Synchrony Debuts Consumer Financing Tool for Audiology Practices

Synchrony has introduced Allegro Credit, a point-of-sale (POS) consumer financing solution for the hearing industry.

The new tool, launched via the Sycle practice management platform, helps audiology providers offer financing options, such as healthcare credit cards and installment loans, according to a Thursday (Oct. 13) news release. The launch represents an expansion of Synchrony’s partnership with Sycle.

“Technology partnerships with leading organizations like Sycle are key to help providers ensure they can meet the demands of today’s changing consumer behaviors,” said Synchrony Senior Vice President and General Manager of Specialty Greg Pierce in the release. “With this offering, patients can get the right financing solution for them and obtain the hearing technology they want and need to live connected lives.”

With the integration, patients who apply have their information automatically transferred to the Allegro Credit application. From there, providers or clinics fill out a few fields of information, hit “submit” and get a credit decision within seconds, the release stated.

The integration also helps clinics identify patients who are pre-approved from their Sycle practice management software before appointments, “which may help them have more confident financial conversations knowing they can address potential cost concerns before they become a barrier to care,” according to the release.

Last month, PYMNTS’ Karen Webster spoke with Shannon Burke, senior vice president and general manager of health systems at Synchrony, about the healthcare payments field’s embrace of an omnichannel model.

Read more: Healthcare Takes a Page From Retail’s Omnichannel Payments Playbook

For years, paying for healthcare was treated as an afterthought, she said, and the rise of highly interconnected omnichannel healthcare combines it all into one flow.

“That clinical and financial journey, starting at the beginning, needs to be woven together,” Burke said. “It can no longer be a separate journey. It’s that philosophical understanding that payment is as important to the patient, and patients will make decisions on their payment experience the same way they do their clinical.”