The September issue of US Banker on E-Payments
In "Banks Can Cure Docs' Payment Plans," John Adams writes about the opportunity for banks in medical remittance processing. Mr. Adams cites industry studies showing that it can cost up to $33 for a health-care provider to post a payment and that health-care payments account for 3.4 billion out of 9.3 billion business-to-business payments.
In "Technology Can Drive Out Payment Chain Inefficiencies," Lee Conrad identifies JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, US Bank, HSBC, and ABN Amro as leaders in Supply Chain Finance.
In "U.S. Targeted by RBC in E-Payments Business," John Adams describes RBC's new payment service which lets foreign customers of American companies make card payments using their local currency and card type.
The August issue of Bank Technology News (BTN) reports on B2B health care payments, including services from PNC and Fifth Third. BTN cites Celent, a leading research and advisory firm:
"Celent says financial institutions are well-positioned to the healthcare payments market, since clearinghouses, their chief competitors, can be inefficient. The research firm reports it is not uncommon for clearinghouses to experience 10 to 20 percent error rates in claims handling in contract to financial institutions payment handling error rates, which usually fall below a tenth of a percent. Additionally, the number of payer-provider transactions is huge. In 2006, there were about 3.4 billion claims which equate to 3.4 billion payments, about a third of the b2b market's 9.3 billion payments."
For the complete article, click here.
The July 20 edition of American Banker states that Fifth Third is using a system from Revenue Management Systems of Oklahoma City to convert EOB forms into electronic remittance advices (ANSI 835). According to Raymond Dury, the bank's CIO, Fifth Third targets health care providers that do not have electronic connections with payers for the service.
Harris Bank will use Metavante Healthcare Payment Solutions for all the technology, operational and back office servicing needed to support its individual and commercial HSAs. Metavante also provides Harris with card processing for debit, prepaid and ATM cards, ATM driving, card production and fulfillment, and check image solutions. According to Metavante, nearly 150 financial institutions had chosen Metavante Healthcare Payment Solutions.
HERAE, an electronic payment processor for healthcare providers, has formed an alliance with Streamline Health, a company specializing in imaging and data capture from healthcare documents.
http://www.herae.com/news/060507%20Streamline-HERAE2%20HFMA.pdf
Analysis
HERAE has a strong reputation for electronic payment processing in the healthcare segment. The alliance with Streamline is further evidence that HERAE's value proposition is gaining traction in the marketplace.