It's perhaps a sad statement on American healthcare that this is even news, but it's still a somewhat rare phenomenon for physician practices to ask patients for credit cards before providing services. "It's insurance for us," Jeff Carroll, office manager at Kalamazoo (Mich.) Gastroenterology Hepatology, tells the Kalamazoo News. "A lot of patients don't pay their bills."

The GI practice is one of four medical groups in Southwest Michigan to call on Minneapolis-based mPay Gateway to provide online bill payment services for patients, and, at the same time, help the practices cut down on bad debt. mPay Gateway CEO Brian Beutner says that providers lose as much as $60 billion a year--or 20 percent of what consumers are directly responsible for--putting a severe financial strain on some hospitals and physician offices. By asking for a credit card up front, medical practices can reduce bad debt by as much as 80 percent, Beutner says.

Customers of mPay Gateway hold the credit card number as kind of a security deposit until insurance reimbursements come through, then process the consumer payment for the amount of the patient's responsibility. Patients get a printed receipt and an itemized list of services performed when they leave the office, but, given the nature of healthcare reimbursements, the actual charge may not even be known for several weeks.

The article doesn't specify whether this information gets integrated into the practice's management and billing system, but we're guessing it's another example of healthcare data winding up in silos. We're also wondering how much more convenient this service would be if it were tied in with real-time claims adjudication. Baby steps.

To learn more about mPay Gateway and some of the ways it helps office efficiency:
- have a look at this Kalamazoo News story

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