progress in real time. This makes blockchain-based payment rails
an ideal way for insurance companies to send international pay-ments
to healthcare providers. It’s fast and transparent.
Speed of delivery, accuracy and transparency are the most
important factors in the payments process. Currently, pay-ments
are requested by a healthcare provider and approved or
denied by the insurance company before being sent. Healthcare
providers are waiting for confirmation before commencing
with the next step. This takes time – time that injured or ill
travelers don’t have.
By using payment rails supported by blockchain technology, the
process is sped up because the lifecycle is more transparent. Both
parties can view what’s happening and proceed accordingly. That
means there is less time spent on administration and patients can
get the care they need faster. It also lowers costs for hospitals and
insurance providers because it decreases the amount of time they
spend dealing with each claim.
Another roadblock caused by older systems: the actual amount
of the final payment can’t always be predicted. When the money
is sent from the insurance company to the healthcare provider, it
is transferred between multiple intermediary banks. And each of
these banks generally takes a handling fee. These fees eat in to the
amount of money that’s deposited into the healthcare provider’s
bank account. And if full payment isn’t received, it can be difficult
to identify and reconcile the payment, thus treatment may be de-layed
or withheld.
Characteristics of blockchain payment rails largely solve this
problem. Payments are nearly instantaneous since the systems
are more closely connected. It erases the need for the middleman,
and that efficiency means the amount requested by the healthcare
provider is typically received. Both parties avoid the headache of
partial payment, and it drives down investigation costs for insur-ance
companies in the long run.
A third common problem is failed and returned payments.
When dealing with remote locations or developing countries, the
health system may be unknown, or the insurance company may
not have associated healthcare providers located there. These un-knowns
can lead to payments being misdirected or sent to the
wrong facility or department. Either way, the money needs to be
tracked down and re-sent. This brings us back to the lack of trans-parency
in older systems, which makes it harder to track payments
because each party can only see half of the conversation.
Using newer technologies, designed with a more open founda-tion,
decreases the number of failed and returned payments because
both parties have visibility to the payment lifecycle. Mistakes are
caught and resolved sooner, which improves patient outcomes.
Rapidly changing technology adds another layer of complex-ity
to the decision-making process for benefits providers. When
weighing options, it’s important to choose a company that has a
strong technical foundation. They should have a roadmap for inte-grating
blockchain in to their payments ecosystem, if they haven’t
done so already. They should offer a web and mobile platform that
allows for innovative tracking for the payment lifecycle. Having
direct access will provide real-time updates and reduce overhead
costs on investigations of returned payments. That may lower the
overall costs for HR departments.
By leveraging the power of blockchain, insurance compa-nies
and benefits providers save time and money on their claim
payments. For healthcare professionals, it cuts down on admin-istration
time. It reduces friction between insurers, hospitals and
clients by improving communication. And if you’re the person sit-ting
in that hospital in Brazil, it gets you back on your feet – and
back home – sooner. n
Corinne MacMillan is the chief technology officer at Cambridge
Global Payments.
finance
GLOBALIZATION IS
SENDING WORKERS TO
FAR-FLUNG LOCATIONS,
AND THAT IS CREATING
UNIQUE CHALLENGES FOR
BENEFITS PROVIDERS
AND INTERNATIONAL
INSURANCE COMPANIES.
Andre Francois / Unsplash
30 ❚ FEBRUARY 2018 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL