Technological advancements have been revolutionizing every sector since few decades. Digitalization of payments has been one of the emerging trends in various sectors including healthcare. For the past three years, we have witnessed a rapid increase in digitalization of various operations, internet banking, and other online functions. Pandemic situation has taken us a long way through digitalization in various sectors.
There are benefits and risks associated with digitalization of payments. Let’s analyze them in detail by throwing light on healthcare sector and others.
Benefits of digitalization of transactions
Today, digital payments are being encouraged in various sectors. Certain online businesses are made possible only with e-payments. So, let’s find out the benefits associated with the digitalization of payments.
- Digital payments are the basis for certain businesses and require swift transactions. E-payments are quicker and efficient, making the ecommerce businesses flourish
- Payment details are being stored and can be accessed and tracked, if required. This helps us achieve the transparency in operations
- Digital payments methods are user-friendly and provide the convenience for the customers
- E-payments can be done in various forms, thereby enabling us to have a spectrum of methods for transaction
Digital Payments & Virtual Consultation
Today, with the advancements in technology and medicine, patients are not restricted to physical boundaries in order to get treatment. Virtual consultations have been a nightmare earlier because of the security problems in digital transactions.
With the advent of digital payments and its rise in healthcare sector, virtual consultations are quite possible. Consultations, counseling sessions, and telemedicine are provided for patients who require it or for whom mobility is a problem.
As stated rightly in one of the articles in Forbes, digital payment options have made the lives of healthcare providers and patients easier.
Few chronic patients might also require advanced medical facilities and treatment, which might not be affordable to them. Due to the availability of world-class hospitals and trained doctors, the same treatment might be available in countries like India, Thailand, Dubai, Malaysia, Singapore, and Turkey at nominal prices. In such situations, medical tourism will be a good option. Initially with virtual consultation and digital payments, the patients can get their invites from the hospitals and then get their visa processed for treatment in international hospitals at their choice of destination. Digital platforms like Medditour extend their support to medical tourism through such digital technologies.
Risks associated with digital payments
When it comes to digital payments, data breaches have become very common risks associated with the businesses. Taking security measures from both the company and customer perspective are important to handle it. Enhanced security such as encryption of data, use of strong passwords, tokenization, and continuous monitoring will safeguard us from data breaches related to data privacy and payment frauds. As expressed in one of the articles in Forbes, biometric authentication method can also be used for ensuring payment security.
The risk factor is comparatively high when it comes to healthcare industry. At the same time, healthcare sector follows maximum compliance to rules and regulations. Right from the pandemic, online payments have become popular. With increased frauds reported in e-payments, it has become crucial for the healthcare companies, hospitals, and the patients to increase their safety measures in order to overcome the security breaches. Nowadays the healthcare organizations and platforms are compliant to HIPAA and PCI DSS to ensure protection of digital payments and data privacy.
At the same time, in order to ensure security from the patient side, it is necessary for the patients and customers to take care of their e-payments by ensuring safety of transactions by using OTPs in spite of their strong passwords, biometric scanners, double check QR codes, etc.
Thanks to the digital world that has gifted us the technological advancements that make our life simple.