PayMedix Launches Partnership With Benefits Platform XO Health

Healthcare financing firm PayMedix has teamed with care/benefits platform XO Health.

The partnership gives XO Health’s network of self-insured employers, third-party administrators and value-based providers access to PayMedix’s healthcare financing solution, according to a Tuesday (Feb. 4) news release.

“Our mission has always been to improve people’s ability to access and afford healthcare when they need it, while simultaneously removing the complexity and administrative burden of bill collection and processing from providers, and simplifying billing for patients,” PayMedix CEO Tom Policelli said in the release.

“Our partnership with XO Health aligns with this mission. We’re disrupting the way people access and pay for healthcare together.”

According to the release, the partnership gives XO Health members access to PayMedix’s interest-free payment plans, which cover all in-network medical bills, up to their out-of-pocket maximum. The two firms say their work will help reduce costs and administrative inefficiencies.

PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster spoke with Policelli in 2023 following the company’s $25 million funding round. He argued that what his company offered was superior to other forms of healthcare buy now, pay later (BNPL) financing.

“We offer credit to all consumers at a given employer regardless of their credit history,” he said. “We’ll go all the way up to the out-of-pocket amount. Basically, all the money a consumer could owe at that employer, we will pay the provider on their behalf.”

Consolidated, universal, revolving BNPL is how Policelli pitched the product — “CURBNPL,” a name he acknowledged could use some work. However, he said that BNPL, as a pure-play concept, is not a good business model fit for common forms of healthcare.

“To say to someone, ‘We’re going to underwrite each time you interact with healthcare as a separate little buy now, pay later,’ That’s crazy. That’s not how consumers get care. So now I’m going to have 33 different payment plans over how many months? That’s just nuts,” he said.

More recently, PYMNTS explored the pain points afflicting payments in the healthcare sector, where more than half of payment leaders say they are concerned about delays in processing payments and claims.

“Eighty percent of the firms that we surveyed said that they believe streamlining these processes is crucial, only 53% have adequately automated their workflows,” PYMNTS wrote in December. “The end result is that 84% of organizations report financial losses due to outdated accounts receivable processes.”