Long known as the top reason for personal bankruptcy, medical debt is being made more manageable by new digital payment tools that allow consumers to afford care without falling behind or needing to forgo treatment for lack of payment options.
This is driving greater innovation than ever in healthcare payments, with specialized lines of credit and buy now, pay later (BNPL) options increasing availability and uptake.
Asked how these factors are informing the innovation roadmap for 2023 and beyond, Shannon Burke, senior vice president and general manager, health and wellness at Synchrony, told PYMNTS that better experience is the common thread, which leads to better health and financial outcomes.
Saying that post-pandemic the desire to access care in different channels will grow in importance to patients, she said, “The shift is not only looking at multichannel, both the clinical and the financial side, but also omnichannel [in the sense of giving] the same experience and the same type of offerings at pre-care, point-of-care, and post care.”
That finds Synchrony putting heavy emphasis on removing payments friction from healthcare journeys with a growing portfolio of payments products tailored to consumer circumstances.
Its core product, the CareCredit healthcare credit card, is an increasingly popular choice for eligible consumers, and in October, the company unveiled its latest product, Allegro Credit, an installment loan, currently available via the Sycle practice management systems.
Burke says such integrations are a big part of the innovation roadmap, noting, “We look an awful lot at partnering on integrations with a variety of practice management, clinical systems, and revenue cycle systems in order to give that great experience to both the provider who’s transacting and the patient who is using a credit card, CareCredit,” or other such solutions.
Options Expand With Demand
Introduced as part of Synchrony’s longstanding partnership with audiology practice management platform Sycle, Burke said the Allegro Credit installment loan product may pop up in other areas of medicine in time as more people seek different terms for healthcare affordability. It’s part of the company’s strategy to provide a variety of digitally powered product offers based on each customer’s specific needs and qualifications.
Removing payment friction is a top priority for Synchrony, and Burke said, “We definitely see Allegro as having a place in a variety of our markets including health systems. When you and I get our care … we have out-of-pocket expenses. We owe that money. Depending on the consumer, we want to meet them where they’re at and give them that personalized choice.”
CareCredit is already a fixture in many medical and dental offices, and pharmacy is another area where Synchrony sees a need leading to innovation and growth.
“When I think about pharmacy, specialty pharmacy, and even lab work, there is a great opportunity,” she said. “We’re offered at Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart and Sam’s Club. We are playing in that space, but I think there’s still quite a bit of opportunity for us to continue to partner to allow our partners to accept CareCredit in more locations, for more services.”
The Knowledge Cure
Digital payments are doing things in healthcare financing that are reshaping a broken system, and what’s needed in a situation like that is education and awareness, both on the patient side and for providers and health systems.
“Educating people and bringing that overall acumen and understanding of the costs of care that people are going to incur is a really big opportunity that not only Synchrony in and of itself can pursue, but we can pursue that with our provider partners,” Burke said.
Improving knowledge of these options helps the patient with managing care costs and has ancillary benefits like lessening the load on overburdened healthcare staff.
This goes together with self-service financing and optionality for which Synchrony is providing integrated infrastructure, and, she said, “what we continue to see as an opportunity support and help our providers and make it better for patients all the way around as they go through their financial experience and journey in healthcare.”
To that end, Burke said Synchrony would continue to build out educational content on the CareCredit Well-U blog that helps consumers in self-directed healthcare journeys become more astute about financing options and how best to use them.
