Banks and payment technology providers that have undergone digital transformations say it's time to help industries like health care and government do the same.
Payments and back-office reconciliation could be more efficient if financial institutions and their business customers were interacting with similar technology, experts said during discussions of digital commerce at this year's virtual Mobile Payments Conference. Doctors' offices, government agencies and other tech-laggard sectors and their banks could mutually benefit from the adoption of technologies like real-time payments, they said.
"One of the areas we think will really be disrupted is health care," said Peter Gordon, head of emerging money movement and business digital officer at U.S. Bank. "We did some work with offices of fewer than 50 doctors, and when we asked what they did with their payment systems, we just got blank stares."
Doctors are not thinking about mobile or digital payment options, Gordon said. "They are thinking about helping or saving people," he said.
Gordon noted that when Microsoft
Such tech makeovers could open the door for banks to approach health care customers and introduce advanced payment technology to complement other advancements in office operations. If health care offices introduce digital advancements in some business operations, they might be more inclined to consider similar technologies for patient payments. Those technologies could streamline transactions between medical offices and banks, while also providing financial institutions with new commercial banking revenue.
Nuance sells tools for recognizing and transcribing speech in doctor office visits, customer-service calls and voicemails as a way of authenticating patients. Part of Microsoft's strategy is to use Nuance technology to augment its own cloud-based health care products, launched in 2020.
"It showed how speech [recognition], digital technology and mobile can really differentiate health care in the front office," Gordon said of the Microsoft deal. "We have been talking about this for years because those of us in financial institutions have been on this journey for a while, and I think health care is the next large industry to go through that transformation."
Companies like
JPMorgan in March ended a three-year venture with Berkshire Hathaway to operate Haven Healthcare, a nonprofit organization that was intended to deliver lower-cost health care services to employees of both companies. Though the venture had significant ambitions, it did not result in vast digital advancements in payments. Experts generally agreed that the 1.2 million employees was not a large enough base for providers to consider lowering costs.
Government agencies at all levels also could learn a few more things about digital commerce and faster and more secure payments, said Peter Davey, senior vice president of product innovation at The Clearing House.
The Clearing House introduced its Real-Time Payments network five years ago. Connected banks use it to offer faster payments to businesses and consumers. The organization, which is owned by large banks, also recently
"During the pandemic, we noticed a lot of
State and local governments still struggle to accept payments electronically and are missing out on the ability to do that in a low-cost environment, Davey said. "I wouldn't say they are resistant to adding faster payments. I just don't think they understand it or have the tools needed to do that."
While services like Zelle have helped many consumers and small businesses embrace faster payments, there is some room for growth and improvement for both payables and receivables, said Laura Weinflash, vice president and financial institution journey master at Early Warning, which operates the Zelle network.
It's on Zelle and the banks to make more customers aware of what Zelle and RTP represent and how to quickly sign up for the services at the bank, Weinflash said.
"We have to make sure it is really easy to find [the information] when we have a new customer to make sure they are aware, or even an existing customer," she said. "We have to make it super easy to find and not make them click through multiple screens."
Because the mobile experience "has always been at the heart of Zelle through a mobile banking or credit union app," it is increasingly important for banks to alert business customers and consumers about the service when they open accounts or visit a branch, Weinflash said.
