FRANKLIN, TN – Passport Health Communications, Inc. has released a major upgrade to its healthcare payment processing services with a new eCashiering solution.

It expands Passport’s cash tracking and credit card processing services to include electronic check payment processing that does not require a paper check, setting up payment plans either to the hospital or another third party and allowing patients to pay via the Internet or by phone.

The solution also is payment processor independent, allowing providers to maintain the banking relationship of their choice.

Passport’s eCashiering improves overall hospital collections by improving the ease to obtain payment or commitment to payment before care is provided, an increasingly important function in today’s health care environment.

A study by research and consulting firm McKinsey & Company indicates hospitals and physicians can expect to retrieve only half a patient’s balance after discharge, and only 10 to 20 percent from uninsured patients.

“Hospitals must be prepared to request and accept payment or provide for payment plans from every patient before providing service,” said Passport Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Jeff Drake. “The release of our eCashiering solution is timely because it is the quickest, most secure, versatile and reliable way to capture high co-pays, deductibles and payments from self-pay patients early on the front end.”

Industry estimates suggest that by 2010 the number of uninsured Americans will reach 52 million. Drake said that trend, coupled with a year-over-year 30 percent increase in the number of HSA-eligible health plans, means a continued increase in self-pay patients requiring payment plans and other processing capabilities.

Diverse payment options for patients with poor credit, such as such as eChecking and zero-interest medical finance cards, are also gaining popularity as traditional means of consumer credit like credit cards have become more difficult to obtain.

According to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, two out of three national credit card-issuing banks have tightened credit card lending standards. No banks reported easing standards.

Passport’s eCashiering is the most advanced patient payments solution on the market because it gives users the ability to set up payment plans and apply discounts. It also operates in combination with Passport’s other front end services, such as eligibility verification, address verification, patient payment estimation and credit reporting and scoring, among others.

It is delivered in a number of ways – through Passport’s Web and integrated platforms and/or implemented into a hospital’s self-service patient Web portal. Comprehensive reporting capabilities produce detailed transaction history, enabling providers to track payments electronically.

The new eCashiering solution is fully HIPAA compliant and carries the highest levels of security to prevent data compromise and protect health care providers against fines and other potentially significant losses associated with a data security breach.

Earlier this year Passport was certified as a Level 1 Service Provider by the PCI Security Standards Council, a consortium of credit card issuers including VISA, MasterCard, Discover Card, American Express and JCB International.

About Passport Health Communications, Inc.
Passport is a healthcare information technology and services organization headquartered in Franklin, Tenn. The Passport family of companies sells administrative, clinical and financial tools to help healthcare providers determine eligibility and payment and get paid faster. Its products and services are used by approximately one-third of all U.S. hospitals and more than 5,000 other healthcare provider facilities in all 50 states. For more information, visit www.passporthealth.com.