Today In Healthcare: Patients Want Digital Payment Options, Skincare Tech Booms And Paceline Rewards Workouts

Today in healthcare, more than half of consumers would like increased digital payment options and a $9 billion skin care market is booming this summer. Plus, Paceline rewards customers to work out.

56 Pct Of Consumers Interested In Digital Payment Options For Healthcare

The business end of healthcare remains mired in paper invoicing and unpaid debt currently estimated in the $140 billion range. Digital payments are helping doctors and dentists heal from the COVID-19 crisis, according to PYMNTS’ July 2021 Connected Healthcare: What Consumers Want From Their Healthcare Customer Experiences study, a collaboration with Rectangle Health.

Researchers surveyed over 2,260 U.S. consumers and found that digital healthcare management — and payment options particularly — can improve patients relationships while getting providers paid.

Most consumers — 56 percent — expressed significant interest in payment plans, and patients across all demographics report interest in covering bills that insurance will not pay for with affordable payments, according to the study.

The difference between the amount that would cause patients living paycheck to paycheck and those earning above $100,000 annually to seek out affordable installment payments for medical bills differed by less than $800, the research shows.

$9B Skincare Tech Business Still Booming

America’s propensity to burn and re-burn has proven to be a formidable catalyst for business and innovation, as several companies have recently rolled out new products that can either prevent sunburn or ease its effects.

Recent studies of the $9 billion global sun care products market show the segment “is anticipated to rise at a considerable rate during the forecast period, between 2021 and 2025.” In 2021 the market is growing at a steady rate, and with the rising adoption of strategies by key players, the market is expected to rise over the projected horizon.

Paceline Rewards Consumers To Work Out And Stay Healthy

Only about 25 percent of Americans get enough exercise, two-thirds of Americans are overweight, 1 in 10 are diabetic and a third are pre-diabetic, according to the CDC.

It’s a long-festering problem that is ruinous for the individual and costly for the system — and also one that Paceline Founder and CEO Joel Lieginger is looking to solve. He told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster about Paceline’s plan to pay people to get healthy by offering tangible monetary incentives for consumers who exercise consistently.

The Paceline system has been designed to simplify the process by bringing fitness and financial rewards together into one ecosystem with a next-generation credit card that rewards consumers for staying fit. Paceline’s rewards are triggered by working out, verified by a personal fitness tracker like an Apple Watch, Garmin watch or a Fitbit, for 150 minutes per week, spread out across three separate days.