Radical shift in payments, collections in health facilities – Health Pay App

Ghana’s foremost digital and innovation bank, Stanbic Bank, has introduced yet another product, ‘Health Pay App’, which promises to revolutionize payments and collections in health facilities across the country.

The ‘Health Pay App’, which was launched on Monday March 29, is a mobile App that supports the payment of hospital bills through multi-digital payment platforms irrespective of the user’s location.

According to Tim Mugodi, Head of Corporate and Investment Banking at Stanbic Bank, the Health Pay App is in keeping with the purpose of the Standard Bank Group. He said “Unlocking financial transactions of sectors that are critical to the growth of the economy is a significant part of our purpose as a bank and this has found expression in various ways including leveraging technology to solve social problems.

This is why we have worked with other co-creators to develop this unique App that we believe will revolutionize payments and collections in our hospitals.”

The App, which can be used currently at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, allows patients or clients to make payments directly against a bill into the hospital collection account from any location. The App also allows clients to track their bills using a unique reference number, which is saved and used for subsequent validation.

The ease and convenience in making payments from any location is a unique intervention that will make clients or patients appreciate Stanbic Bank’s ‘Health Pay App’.

The Chief Executive Officer of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Ampomah praised Stanbic Bank for their foresight in anticipating what the needs of their clients are and evolving solutions for them. He noted that, “making things convenient for customers is one of the key things that drive any industry and that is why we are grateful to Stanbic Bank for anticipating this need.

Although we have health insurance in Ghana, a lot of the payments are borne by family members and benefactors and in cases of emergency you have family members running around looking for money and processing payments while lives are at stake. So if you have a platform that makes processing payment easy while at the same time, giving the hospital the opportunity to track payments, it is a very welcomed development”.

Dr. Ampomah further encouraged other health facilities to consider adopting the ‘Health Pay App’ for the convenience it brings to hospital administration.

Speaking on the App, the Head of Transactional Products and Services (TPS) at Stanbic Bank, Musah Alhassan, said the bank’s commitment to a customer-centric approach encourages them to constantly look for ways to make life easier and convenient for both customers and non-customers alike.

He said, “Customer centricity is a value that permeates every aspect of our business. It makes us anticipate the needs of our customers and the general public and evolve innovative ways to find solutions to address those needs.

That is the foundation and the thinking behind the Health Pay App. We realized payments and collections in hospitals are a pain point for both the hospitals and patients and thought to ourselves that we can do something to make that pain go away and that is the result of the App”.

“For the hospital, it affords the opportunity of a single view on all transactions or payments made into the collection through the App. Beyond that, the hospital is able to extract reports to support decisions as well as track clients’ or patients’ bills through the service chain. The ‘Health Pay App’ also gives a clear identification of payments irrespective of the mode of payment or department and provides a record on transaction history. The App, when optimized, will cure the persistent queuing that has characterized payments at many hospitals across the country,” Musah Abdallah added.

The Stanbic Bank ‘Health Pay App’ is available on Android and IOS platforms and on all smart devices. The payment channels can be accessed via a USSD code *715*55#, Visa/Master card and mobile money on all networks.