Integration gives 700 practices a closed loop payments system
Health Focus, one of the country’s leading healthcare practice management systems, has been integrated with South African developed Nexion, providing a single system for accepting, processing and reconciling all forms of payment to medical practitioners.
As a result, Health Focus’s approximately 700 Eminance users can for the first time, on activating the integration, manage the entire payment cycle without any manual processes extraneous to it. This throws a net of compete security and control around a previously multi step, disintegrated practice management solution, the companies say.
“For credit card payments our users used to have to enter a due amount in Health Focus, then swipe the card through a separate credit card machine for authorisation, and finally enter receipt details back into the system once payment was received,” says Gert van Eeden, development director at Health Focus. “There was a clear need to simplify, improve control and secure this unwieldy procedure, by streamlining the way our users take, process, and matching payments back automatically.”
Van Eeden explains that doctors are increasingly running their practices as ‘cash businesses’ that take payment at the point of service. “Nexion is the way to achieve that efficiently. As a result of linking up, Health Focus users can now manage payments in one seamless electronic sequence, by enhancing Health Focus via the payment facilitation processes of Nexion.”
Peter Melchior, MD of Nexion ads: “Nexion’s integration with Health Focus automates the last manual task in the process of receiving payments. It closes the loop by electronically picking up the invoice that used to land on the floor, eliminating the need to manually process payments and then having to manually reconcile them back to the the original figure captured.
“And in doing so, it also prevents fraud, by immediately matching payment to the system. Beforehand, a practice would have to wait for highlevel monthend bank statements to try and match payments.” As an added benefit of a truly automated, integrated solution, says Melchior, users of Health Focus do not key in any payments, removing the opportunity for human error.
Nexion will install its software and manage the integration into the existing business system or multiple systems. This Integration requires a few simple steps.
The systems are being piloted in concert for the first time since the integration project was undertaken in November 2006. According to Van Eeden, Health Focus undertakes as many as 15 integration projects with other software solutions per year. As a standalone application, Nexion has revolutionised the payments of 100’s of medical practices since 2006.
The company’s future is looking bright as it starts leveraging integrated platforms and gaining favour among service providers other than medical practitioners, including legal and educational markets. Nexion targets an install base of 600 practices and institutions by year end, and makes use of a computer centric sales channel with access to its markets.
The software has no upfront charge, and the service attracts only a monthly licensing fee and per transaction charge. Nexion is backed by a 24/7 service centre, supporting installations and moving money on behalf of practices – securely and pro actively. Nexion is bank neutral.
About Nexion
Nexion removes the daily hassle of managing payments, and the laborious, complex reconciliation of bank statements, deposits and multiple receipt recording methods at month ends. It gives full, detailed, on demand views into cash flow, right down to the transaction level, counteracting fraud and bad debt and allowing service providers to focus on their businesses. Since entering the market in 2006, Nexion has been adopted in the medical, legal and educational fields. The Nexion system is supported by a managed service that facilitates the movement of money, securely and pro actively. It can be bought as a standalone solution, or integrated with various practice management and accounting applications. Nexion is bank neutral and has a 24/7 service centre.