Practices are not required to contract for additional “value added” payment services from third-party payment vendors.Health plans cannot deduct funds from a provider’s account unless contractually authorized by the provider and.Health plans and third-party payment vendors must not to charge fees for the use of EFT and costs are limited to banking transaction fees (maximum of $.034 per transaction).Health plans sending VCCs must stop if a provider requests to receive payments via EFT.The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued guidance in an effort to accelerate adoption of EFT and discourage the use of VCCs.

Payment delays and requirements to submit additional EFT enrollment paperwork can also be used by plans as a disincentive for the practice to reject VCCs.Ĭomments from respondents included in the MGMA Stat poll highlighted the fact that many practices have been forced to accept VCCs or encounter significant barriers in trying to move away from this form of payment to EFT. There is not the same advantage with VCCs, and plans and vendors issue them to save them the cost of printing and mailing paper checks. For that service, the practice is willing to accept the associated fees. Thirty-two percent responded that they received no VCC payments, and an additional 30% were unsure.Īccepting credit cards from patients, in addition to the convenience factor, shifts the patient debt collection responsibilities to credit card companies, thereby eliminating potential bad debt risk for the practice. Another 12% reported VCCs made up 3% to 15% of the payments, and a further 2% were receiving 16% or more of their payments via VCC. About one quarter (24%) responded that 1% to 2% of their payments were coming via VCCs. 19 MGMA Stat poll, that included more than 700 respondents, asked what percentage of health plan payments were sent to the practice via VCCs. Those providers adopting EFT can accelerate claim payments while reducing staff time spent processing VCCs or paper checks.Ī Dec. VCCs do not offer the practice the ability to automatically reassociate the VCC payment with the ERA. In addition, the EFT transaction is designed to correlate with the Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA) and facilitate reassociation of the payment with the remittance. Payments made via VCC do not meet the requirements for the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) mandate included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), as they are not considered “electronic” payments under the law. The practice is responsible for paying all interchange fees, typically ranging from 2% to 5% of the total amount of the charge for these “card not present” transactions. The practice is expected to run the number through its credit card terminal as it would for charges associated with patient payment of copays and deductibles. VCCs are 16-digit credit card numbers, most commonly faxed or emailed to the practice by the plan or vendor. “Virtual” credit cards (VCCs) are an emerging method for health plans and third-party payment vendors to issue payments to physician practices for patient services.

Virtual credit card