Why It’s Time for Your Practice to Adopt Digital Payments

For both providers and patients, digital wallets offer greater convenience, ease of use, efficiency and security than traditional methods of medical bill payment. Virtually anyone with any connection to the healthcare industry understands that the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated consumer adoption of telehealth. But what’s less recognized is a similar evolution that’s underway in the space of digital wallets.

Digital wallets, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Venmo, are mobile versions of consumers’ financial accounts that are easily accessed with a computer or smartphone and eliminate the necessity for consumers to carry traditional, physical wallets. Consumers may make payments with digital wallets at in-person payment terminals, apps and websites—and healthcare is starting to take notice.

Consumer interest in digital wallets has surged recently, coinciding with the pandemic. For example, a report from eMarketer found that in-store mobile payments usage grew 29% in the U.S. in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. That same year, 92.3 million U.S. consumers aged 14 and up used mobile payments at least one time.

In the healthcare industry, caution against Covid-19 infection similarly drove interest in mobile, digital payments. For example, a U.S. Bank survey several months into the pandemic revealed that 25% of U.S. healthcare consumers reported paying via contactless debit or credit because of infection fears. That amount exceeded the percentages who reported paying via their provider’s online portal (23%), an online money transfer service (18%), mobile app (17%) and text (11%).