As a healthcare provider, your business faces significant challenges. Coming up with the best ways to serve your diverse patient base, while ensuring that you receive the financial reimbursements to which you are entitled, requires a combination of creativity and constant attention. 

Adhering to the following payment best practices can help.

1. Ensure HIPAA compliance.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is legally binding. Failing to follow its requirements can result in significant financial penalties for your business. 

Therefore, be sure to only accept HIPAA-compliant payments. To that end, choosing a reputable payment processing company with proven experience in the healthcare sector is a must.

2. Streamline your billing.

Choose only a telemedicine merchant account provider who will furnish you with a secure and efficient patient billing system. It should allow patients to pay in various ways, i.e., via payment links, online, in-person, or mobile phone. 

Moreover, a wide variety of payment types should be accepted, including credit and debit cards, digital wallets, e-checks, and recurring payments from a card or bank account.

3. Communicate clearly.

Medical visits can be stressful, leading to misunderstandings that can cause billing delays and frustration for patients and staff. Optimizing communication is one of the best preventative measures. To that end, inform patients in person, via email, in writing, and by text about payment expectations, including financial assistance options, accepted payment methods, and consequences for late payments. 

Provide prompt assistance when people request answers to their questions in any modality. Offering a payment portal gives clients a forum to access their billing details, make online payments, and communicate with your billing department.

4. Process payments securely and promptly.

Your telemedicine merchant account provider should furnish you with all of the tools and systems you need to process patient payments securely. 

Before entrusting any data to this vendor, be sure that their systems comply with both HIPAA and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), a set of measures that have been set forth to protect cardholder data from breaches. 

Once payments have been submitted, be sure to process them promptly, ensuring a consistent flow of cash into your business. Be vigilant about updating your systems so that they contain the most recent security protections.

5. Conduct regular reviews.

Even the most solid set of best practices can become lax or outdated over time. Combat this tendency by conducting regular reviews of your payment processing and data security systems. 

Doing so will help you to identify potential risks before they escalate into significant problems. It also helps you to remain in compliance with HIPAA and other important industry standards.

Caring for patients on every level requires even more than a solid health plan. Success for your healthcare business is also contingent upon a HIPAA-compliant, streamlined, secure set of billing and communications practices. 

Take the time to put these systems in place, and your medical company will thrive.