By Haley Brengartner, Product Manager, Emporos
With text messages boasting a 98% open rate1 and 32% of patients paying a health-related bill within five minutes of receiving a text link2, offering pharmacy patients the ability to pay for their medication via text message should seem like a no brainer.
Yet, despite the availability of online payments for rideshares, dinner delivery, and retail, pharmacies have traditionally been slower to adopt this technology. That is – until the new Emporos Patient Payments functionality.
Emporos recently released Patient Pay, a text-to-pay workflow, for pharmacies looking to expand and increase revenue capture, patient satisfaction, and time spent on clinical operations. Early access customers are already reaping the benefits of increased efficiency, faster revenue realization, and a more streamlined checkout experience.
To learn more, check out the recorded webinar or read our Patient Pay overview and frequently asked questions explainer below.
What is Patient Pay?
Patient Pay enables pharmacies to offer simple and secure link-to-pay payment options to patients, aligning perfectly with the current market trends and modern customer expectations.
With just a few clicks within Emporos’s mobile point of sale (POS), pharmacies can notify patients via text when their prescriptions are ready for payment and pickup. Through a safe and secure web-hosted payment portal, patients input their name and date of birth to authenticate their identity. Once verified, they can pay for their medications with a credit card or digital wallet—no app download required.
Key Benefits of a Modern Payment Method
Patient Pay offers several benefits for pharmacies and patients, including:
- Enhanced Convenience: Patient Pay allows patients to pay for their medications anywhere, anytime. Whether that’s in a hospital bed from the comfort of their homes, or on the go. This flexibility is crucial in today’s fast-paced world, where convenience can make-or-break patient satisfaction.
- Increased, Faster Collections: Since patients are more likely to have their phones on them than their wallets, outpatient pharmacies can increase first fill rates and reduce the number of unpaid scripts for bedside transactions. For curbside pickup, mail-order, drive-thru, or in-store transactions, text-to-pay empowers patients to pay for their prescriptions before picking them up.
- Security and Trust: As a PCI DSS version 4.0 Level 1 Service Provider, Emporos supports providers in reducing payment-related risk and patients can rest assured that their personal information is secure. The secure, browser-based link allows patients to input their credit card or Apple/Google Pay details themselves without giving sensitive payment information over the phone.
- Faster, Safer Transactions: By pre-paying for prescriptions ahead of pickup, patients and pharmacists can skip the non-clinical components of a transaction. This allows pharmacy staff to focus more on delivering care rather than handling payments and troubleshooting payment devices while minimizing physical contact and exposure to illnesses during peak seasons.
- Reduced Hardware Costs and Complexity: Pharmacies can reduce their dependencies on card readers for all card-not-present transactions. With more transactions happening digitally, the cost of hardware, and time spent troubleshooting troublesome devices, can be cut back dramatically.
Demo Insights: Patient Pay Workflow
For pharmacies, Patient Pay not only simplifies payments but also integrates seamlessly into compliance and delivery workflows. Our webinar demoed the solution in depth, but we’ve also broken down the patient pay workflow into the following steps:
- Initiate Payment Requests: Pharmacy employees can send SMS payment links to patients within their point of sale (POS). The system pre-populates patient phone number if it’s available in the Pharmacy Management System (PMS). The application also allows for the phone number to be updated at any point in the transaction in case a family member or others with a relationship to need to pay for the medication.
- Manage Payments: A pharmacy-facing dashboard that manages pending payments provides pharmacy users visibility into payment statuses (pending, paid, error), enabling staff to resend links or reminders as needed.
- Text Alerts: Patients receive a text with a payment link, verify their identity, and pay for the medications and/or OTC items they’ve selected. No app download required.
- Checkout and Payments: Patients can use various payment methods, including credit and debit cards, FSA/HSA cards, and mobile wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay.
- Order Confirmation: Once payment is processed, patients receive a QR code confirming payment. Pharmacy staff can then scan this QR code to quickly retrieve transaction details and provide an easy medication pickup experience.
- Complete the Order: The system ensures that all transactions meet compliance requirements, including transactions containing pseudoephedrine or controlled substances, such as ID verification and patient counseling, before pharmacists can finalize the transaction.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
During the webinar, participants asked the following questions about Patient Pay:
- Can we customize the number the texts come from? Yes, you can customize the number the texts come from to better align with your pharmacy’s branding and communication preferences.
- Can we customize the text within the message? Yes, you can customize the text within the message to add your pharmacy site name, ensuring clear and effective communication with your patients.
- What happens to an Rx if a customer decides not to pay for it? If a customer deselects an Rx after verifying their identity, that medication will not be included in the payment transaction. It will remain available in the pharmacy’s system until further action is taken.
- How quickly does the system sync from when the patient pays to when it shows in the POS? The system syncs in real time, ensuring that the payment information is immediately reflected in the POS.
- Can patients pay using digital wallets? Not yet, but it will be available very soon. Our team is currently working on building out the functionality to let patients use Google/Apple Pay.
- How long do payment links last? Do they expire? Payment links expire after 10 days, to ensure timely payments and support return to stock requirements.
- How long does the QR code last for? Does it expire? The QR code expires 10 days after payment. Patients can still pick up their prescription and/or OTC item after 10 days, the pharmacist just needs to look up the patient/transaction.
- Does the system alert pharmacists when a patient has paid through Patient Pay? Yes, the system alerts pharmacy staff when a patient has completed payment through Patient Pay, ensuring timely and efficient transaction processing.
- Can we text a receipt from Patient Pay? Not yet, but it will be available very soon. Our team is currently working on building out the functionality to text patients their receipts.
- How does selling a controlled substance work from Patient Pay? Selling controlled substances through Patient Pay follows the same protocol as selling controlled substances in the POS. Any additional compliance and verification steps required will be captured in the POS to ensure legal and regulatory requirements are met such as ID verification and mandatory counseling.
Empowering the Pharmacy of the Future
As healthcare continues to modernize, digital payments like text-to-pay represent a significant milestone, helping enhance internal operations and meet customer expectations. Patient Pay offers a secure, integrated payment solution that provides patients with an accessible, convenient, and transparent checkout experience. Just as importantly, it enhances revenue capture and frees up time for pharmacists, empowering them to focus on what truly matters: caring for patients.
Ready to tackle the next frontier of digital payments? Request a demo for Patient Pay here.