Wachovia Joins Healthcare Billing Centralization Push

Rising debt expense in the healthcare industry is attracting non-traditional service vendors looking to help medical service providers centralize their billing and collection systems.

Wachovia Bank announced last week a cashiering system for hospitals and other healthcare providers that will allow them to collect patient payments in any department that provides service, said June St. John, healthcare product manager for Wachovia Treasury Services Division. She added that the system, known as PatientPOS, improves the patient experience because care and payment can be handled at the point of service.

“You won’t have to check in at the admissions desk for a blood test,” St. John said. “You can go straight to the lab. (Patients) don’t’ need to leave a radiology office if (a hospital) can collect payment at the same place the patient is presenting themselves for care."

Wachovia provides retail banking, brokerage, asset and wealth management, and corporate and investment banking products and services to consumers and businesses. PatientPOS is the company’s most recent addition to its healthcare product line, which focuses on both sales and product management resources.

St. John said PatientPOS records revenue in real time and integrates payments with the hospital’s patient accounting and general ledger systems. It can be used by any kind of medical care or ambulatory care facility and by physician practice groups.

“It doesn’t do any kind of credit scoring,” St. John said. “But it will allow hospitals to enroll the client in a payment plan, including setting up a recurring payment from a checking or savings account."

Industry centralization efforts are creating new business opportunities for technology vendors who provide software and hardware that can help healthcare providers manage their revenue cycles, said Michael Klozotsky, healthcare analyst for ARM industry advisory firm Kaulkin Ginsberg.

Klozotsky said some hospitals have the infrastructure to collect patient payments at the point of service. Many, such as Charlotte, N.C.-based Carolinas Healthcare System, one of the largest non-profit healthcare systems in the Carolinas, developed their own, he said. But the vast majority of hospitals and physician practices don’t have the infrastructure for a centralized billing system and they will need help developing or adopting one.

Klozotsky said technology vendors who already have healthcare industry collections experience should have an advantage because of their existing relationships with healthcare providers.

“This is new for hospitals,” Klozotsky said. “As hospitals try to centralize (billing efforts), they potentially provide business for technology vendors inside the ARM industry.  If they (hospitals) can’t write software on their own, they will need help.”