Nomi Health, a direct healthcare purchasing and delivery business, has launched a new fintech platform to power real-time healthcare payments.
The platform, Connect, aims to help healthcare function at the speed of fintech, connecting providers to payers and patients. The platform not only facilitates payments in real time, it also allows for claims adjudication and billing workflows in a single system. The platform is available to all healthcare entities that would benefit from its solutions.
By integrating these services, the system allows payers and third parties to administer claims faster, reduce administrative costs and improve patient experiences, Nomi argues. The platform also helps reduce administrative barriers and costs to providers that otherwise might spend significant time seeking reimbursement for services.
Through Connect, providers can check eligibility, document services, submit claims and track payment history. Patients, too, will know what they owe after an appointment through the Nomi patient portal, where they can pay their bills and check the status of their remaining benefits.
“Traditional, antiquated healthcare workflows have created an ugly reality where patients are a commodity, providers are bill collectors, and those who buy healthcare for their communities are blind participants in a process that is crippling the U.S. healthcare system and driving healthcare costs above $4 trillion,” Boe Hartman, Nomi co-founder and chief technology, said in a press release. By simplifying the payment process and making it more transparent, he added, everyone in the payment chain is happier. Hartman’s background in client service and tech innovation includes Goldman Sachs, Barclays and Capital One. While fintech embraced real-time payments long ago, the announcement notes, the healthcare industry has lagged behind.
The existing system is “unwieldy and inefficient,” echoed Melissa Guzy, co-founder and managing partner of Arbor Ventures, in the announcement. Real-time payments and data are “no longer optional,” she went on: “Fintech accelerated the massive leap to real-time, and now it is time for healthcare to catch up.”