Safety Paves A Path To Digital Healthcare Payments

In A Decade of Digital Transformation in 12 Months, 46 C-suite executives spoke with PYMNTS for its Q2 eBook on what the world will look like as recovery rolls on and the next iteration of normal rolls out. In this excerpt, Dominick Colabella, CEO of Rectangle Health, explores how the challenges of the pandemic led the healthcare industry to quickly adapt to an increasingly consumer-based model of care, and how Rectangle Health strives to solve the “patient-provider payment predicament” – a longstanding problem of payment expectation.

Read the entire eBook here.

Serving as a tipping point for businesses to make a much-needed digital transformation, the pandemic set into motion a union of payment technology, strategic partnerships and business processes that persists today. At Rectangle Health, we continue to observe a steady shift toward the adoption of digital tools via healthcare payment technology.

Early adopters of healthcare payment technology were prepared for a swift pivot to digitization, but the tragic circumstances of COVID-19 forced many dental, medical and specialty offices to implement essential technology to meet mandated safety protocols and continue serving their patients. Providers quickly responded, offering telehealth appointments and virtual examinations, while visits to the office were made safer by utilizing modern practice management and payment solutions.

Advanced functionality, from digital registration to contactless payments – which was at one time aspirational – made these new routines indispensable to healthcare offices. The challenges of the last year led the industry to quickly adapt to an increasingly consumer-based model of care, putting the patient more in control of the entire experience.

In the arena of healthcare, Rectangle Health strives to solve the “patient-provider payment predicament” – a longstanding problem of payment expectation. Patients are often unsure of how to pay, when to pay, how much to pay, how often to pay, etc. While practitioners may not seemingly prioritize an easy financial experience, cost is a top reason for patients to avoid or delay care.

Interestingly, most patients actually want to pay for their healthcare, but confusing bills and unclear or inconvenient payment options serve as a significant barrier in doing so. Now that many practices have adopted new healthcare payment technology to ensure safety and stay viable in a post-pandemic world, these same contactless solutions will help patients to pay – and providers to get paid.

As we move forward, the new path of the patient remains a hybrid experience. Patients still appreciate the inherent safety that comes from consumer-centric payment options. Touchless technology may have begun as a critical response to the pandemic, but its built-in benefits of accessibility, security and simplicity will still be desired by practices and patients. Delivering seamless experiences and complete digital solutions sets the bar for next-generation expectations. Rectangle Health continues to innovate and anticipate deeper digital change on behalf of the practitioners and organizations we serve. The future we envision includes continued momentum toward full adoption of digital tools and the strengthening of provider-patient relationships.

Much of what will be utilized is determined by what patients demand and what practices deliver in 2021 and beyond. Tech-savvy patients will prefer the user-friendly features discovered within this digital transformation, whereas others might take comfort in a more traditional way of working with their practitioners. For most patients and providers, there is simply no turning back – and overall, both will benefit from these timely and necessary improvements. In preparing for what’s next, successful practices will offer every payment modality to complete their patients’ healthcare experience.