A.   Virtual card payments, also known as V-Card, are single-use, electronic credit card (no-card-present) payments initiated from a health care system to a supplier for the exact amount owed to them. V-Card payments replace paper check payments and utilize the MasterCard network.

A.  Offering an electronic payment solution such as V-Cards is an excellent way for health care systems to pay their suppliers timely, securely, electronically and to reduce the high cost of issuing paper checks.  V-Card payments help to reduce the costly check processing fees which can range from $8.00-$30.00+ per check.  The reduction of paper check processing will improve financial costs of lost or stolen checks.  Implementing a V-Card solution with HealthSpire guiding your health care system through the process will allow you the opportunity to standardize supplier payment terms to industry standards and will also help generate a new source of revenue.  Since HealthSpire's only focus is working with health care systems your System will benefit from our existing relationships with countless health care suppliers who are already familiar with our services and onboarding process.

A.  Benefits may include:

• No changes to your existing accounting systems or procedures
• Provide suppliers with a timely, secure, reliable and electronic payment option
• Eliminate per item banking fees and processing costs
• Extend float and increase cash flow
• Check fraud reduction/elimination
• Ability to expedite payments (early pay) to suppliers while maintaining standard payment terms (moving payment terms early can negatively affect your health care systems Days Payable Outstanding)
• Opportunity to strengthen supplier’s relationships including your local suppliers

A.  No! Your health care systems current invoice approval process, procedures and supplier contacts will remain unchanged.

A.  No! V-Cards are business-to-business (B2B) payments sent to the supplier for processing without a physical card present. P-Cards are physical plastic credit cards used for employee travel expenses or fleet charges.

A.  V-Card is available to any supplier receiving paper checks, and whose sales volume with the health care system is over $100,000/annually.  If this supplier accepts Buyer Initiated Payments (BIP) or Straight Through Processing (STP) then there is NO minimum threshold for supplier participation.

A.  No! There are no added fees or upcharge accessed by HealthSpire for enrolling in or using V-Card. However, the supplier’s standard merchant fees apply to each payment. All suppliers have already negotiated their own merchant fees.

A.  This is a commonly asked question by health care systems. Suppliers accepting V-Card payments will benefit from receiving their approved payments from the health care system on-time and eliminates the check processing delays (can save the supplier 2-5 days). Suppliers will also receive 100% of the invoice amount – not an adjusted amount.  The supplier will also benefit from the credit card float advantage of the merchant fee not be accessed for up to 30 days, depending on their merchant acquirers billing cycle.  The supplier is in more control of receiving their approve payment when it’s due and will be able to reconcile these payments electronically in their accounting system.

A.  No! The supplier can simply use their existing point-of-sale (POS) system to process virtual card payments.

A.  HealthSpire has made the supplier enrollment easy and only takes 2-minutes to complete the online enrollment form. There are no fees to negotiate. No paperwork, no banking information collected, no lien release, no letter of credit, and no know-your-customer (KYC) documentation is needed to enroll. Suppliers will be directed to an online self-registration enrollment center that is co-branded between the health care system and HealthSpire.

A.  No! The health care system can keep all of their existing A/P systems and processes exactly the same. HealthSpire’s technical team will work with the health care systems assigned team to ensure effective processes are in place using the existing A/P system.

A.  Absolutely! The HealthSpire virtual card solution can be used alongside ANY other supplier finance, commercial card or trade payables programs. HealthSpire will work with your treasury bank to ensure this relationship is not disrupted.