Five reasons to implement an income collection solution

Cashflow can be improved by taking payment for services at the time of or prior to service delivery. Any computer in your organisation can be used to take card payments and mobile devices can be used to take payments wherever computers are not available, such as on the ward. By collecting payment upfront there is no need to spend time and money issuing reminders and chasing patients for payment. 

Where an invoice has been issued, a range of payment channels including face to face, over the phone, the internet and automated telephone can be used to collect the payment. These health payment services make it easy for patients to pay, as there is no need to visit the hospital to make a payment and automated services allow payments to be made any time, day or night. 

Debit cards have overtaken cash as the most popular payment method within the UK*. People like the convenience and security of paying by card and for the vast majority of payments it will be the patient’s first choice. 

As the Payments Council’s target for phasing out cheques in 2018 approaches, it is essential that trusts prepare for themselves by offering alternative payment methods, such as debit cards. 

*Payments Council Statistical Report Q3 2010

Our solutions make it easier for patients to pay, improving cashflow and reducing the time spent issuing reminders and chasing debt. 

An income collection solution also integrates with debtor systems, negating  the need to manually key payment details into any financial management system and saving valuable staff resources.

Capita take the security of personal data very seriously. In income collection terms this means that no card data is stored on the Trust’s site at any time. Any card payment authorisations are processed via the Capita’s Secure Bureau Service. To be in a position to provide this service Capita has gained full certification from the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council as a registered compliant company.

 

The PCI standards have been introduced by the major card schemes including Visa and MasterCard and apply to any organisation that accepts payments by credit or debit card. Failure to adhere to the standards can result in substantial fines being issued to the owner of the merchant account and even lead to suspension of trading.

 

The two key PCI Security Standards which the Council manages are the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)  and the Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS).

Our solutions provide the latest card fraud protection measures  as standard including 3D Secure (Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode) and Card Security Code (CSC) validation.

*Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.   

Capita processes 20 million card payments each year on behalf of its customers. This enables us to provide highly competitive card processing rates that are typically much lower than those applicable when using bank-owned terminals.