Allscripts-Misys Health Solutions, Chicago, a developer of electronic health record and practice management systems for office-based physicians, has announced it is offering its physician practices an online patient bill-paying service by Intuit, Mountainview, Calif., the developer of the Quicken line of checkbook and accounting software.
The service is called Quicken Health Bill Pay, according to Allscripts, but it appears to be an amalgam of new and existing bill-paying services offered under various names by Intuit.
A pilot program conducted by Allscripts and Intuit last year found that patients who used the service paid their medical bills 17.8 days faster, on average, than patients using other payment methods, according to an Allscripts news release touting the Intuit arrangement. No terms of the agreement were disclosed.
Glen Tullman, CEO of Allscripts, said that eight physician practices with a few hundred doctors participated in the pilot. “The docs loved it. Their patients love it. What we're talking about is: one, we're going to make it easier for patients to manage their health expenses. Healthcare bills are going to become a larger and larger percentage of our overall spend. On the physicians' side, physicians are having trouble getting paid.”
The consumer-oriented Quicken Bill Pay service is $9.95 per month, and its Medical Expense Manager software sells online for $49.99, but Quicken Health Bill Pay is offered free to patients as a Web-based service.
The software also facilitates online payments from a patient's bank account or through his or her credit card. The service is offered to patients covered by Cigna and Medical Mutual of Ohio, and is being rolled out to members of UnitedHealthcare plans.
