Healthcare Payment Processing

Healthcare payments involve a wider range of card types, including HSA and FSA cards with IIAS compliance requirements, higher average transaction values, and a mix of insurance co-pays and out-of-pocket payments. Healthcare providers also need to manage patient payment plans and recurring billing for installments. The higher average ticket in healthcare makes interchange-plus pricing particularly valuable — each basis point of savings applies to a larger dollar amount per transaction.

Yes. GoPayhawk supports HSA (Health Savings Account) and FSA (Flexible Spending Account) card acceptance, including IIAS requirements for merchants that sell a mix of eligible and non-eligible items. Dental offices, vision centers, pharmacies, and other healthcare-adjacent businesses can accept these cards through properly configured terminals and software.

HIPAA applies to protected health information (PHI). Standard payment processing — running a credit card for a patient visit — does not typically involve PHI. However, if your payment system stores or transmits patient-identifiable health data alongside payment data, HIPAA requirements may apply. GoPayhawk's processing environment is designed with healthcare compliance in mind and does not store clinical data in the payment flow.

Interchange-plus is typically the best model for healthcare practices. Healthcare transactions tend to have higher average tickets — dental offices, specialty clinics, and elective procedure providers often process transactions in the hundreds or thousands of dollars. On interchange-plus, the savings from actual card network cost versus a flat rate compound on these larger amounts. A free statement analysis calculates your specific savings potential.

GoPayhawk supports recurring billing and stored card-on-file functionality for patient payment plans. Practices can set up automated monthly charges for installment payments, securely tokenize card credentials, and manage billing through gateway or software integrations. This reduces collections friction and improves patient payment completion rates without requiring patients to call in for each payment.

For most medical and dental offices, a countertop terminal paired with a virtual terminal for phone-based billing covers the majority of payment scenarios. Practices that need to capture patient balances at checkout use the countertop terminal; front-desk staff use the virtual terminal for payment plans and phone payments. GoPayhawk recommends specific hardware during onboarding based on your practice's workflow.