Patient Financing Becomes Part of the Healthcare Checkout

For a patient facing a crown, a new pair of prescription lenses or an unexpected veterinary procedure, the decision to proceed can depend as much on when the bill must be paid as on how much it costs.

In healthcare, breaking a large expense into manageable payments can determine whether treatment goes forward, gets scaled back or is postponed. The financing market is moving closer to that decision, with credit being built into the systems that providers already use to collect payment.

Stripe’s CareCredit integration, announced Aug. 3, offers one example of that movement. Eligible health and wellness businesses in the United States using Stripe can offer CareCredit through Stripe Checkout and its Payment Element. The integration initially supports standard CareCredit transactions and six-month promotional financing.

The development extends healthcare financing through a payments platform used by businesses that do not necessarily have the technology staff or financing infrastructure of large health systems. It also places the financing choice inside the online payment process rather than requiring the patient or provider to arrange it separately.

That is part of a wider move into smaller healthcare practices. By way of example, CareCredit parent Synchrony told PYMNTS in June that financing partnerships can give independent dental practices access to payment options at the point of care without requiring dedicated staff or their own financing infrastructure. Synchrony Health and Wellness CEO Beto Casellas said the company uses broader underwriting indicators, including payment behavior and cash flow, in an effort to assess some consumers who lack conventional credit histories.

Dentistry is particularly instructive because the financing decision can arrive while the treatment plan is still being discussed. Oral surgeon Dr. Priveer Sharma of Sharma Oral Surgery said in the same interview that patients unable to comfortably absorb the price can begin removing procedures from a recommended treatment plan to reduce the bill. Offering financing during the consultation gives patients another way to evaluate the full cost against their monthly finances.

The implications extend to vision, veterinary care and other health and wellness services where consumers can encounter a sizable bill at a relatively small provider. In those markets, embedded credit gives the practice another payment method at the same point where the patient is deciding whether to proceed.

The Cost Problem Behind the Checkout Shift

Consumer demand provides a reason for providers to pay attention. The PYMNTS Intelligence report “The Financing Factor: How Pay Later Availability Changes Where Consumers Buy” found that 55% of Generation Z consumers said merchant-offered installment availability influences where they seek healthcare or dental care. Buy now, pay later (BNPL) availability can affect the same choice for 49% of Gen Zers.

Separately, the PYMNTS Intelligence report “Generations Under Pressure: How Younger Consumers Are Coping With Higher Living Costs” found that in January, 51% of U.S. consumers said managing daily living expenses was challenging. Healthcare was among the recurring expenses contributing to that strain.

The pressure varied by age and type of expense. Among baby boomers and seniors, the share citing dental and vision costs as a financial challenge rose from 44% in October to 57% in January. Among Gen Z, 48% cited dental and vision expenses, 46% prescription medications and 44% mental health services as challenges.

There was a direct connection between the pressures and payment design. The report identified a need for installment structures, better cost visibility, payment orchestration and integrated healthcare payment tools that fit recurring medical expenses into the way consumers receive and manage income.

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Who Is the Subprime Consumer? A Behavioral Profile” showed what can happen when that flexibility is absent. Among young subprime consumers, 23% delayed a doctor’s visit because of cost during the previous three months, 17% skipped a recommended treatment or test, and 14% left a prescription unfilled.

Financing is being connected directly to the software and payment systems used by healthcare providers, while consumer data shows that the availability of installments can affect provider choice. For small dental, vision, veterinary and other practices, checkout is becoming another point at which access to care can be decided.