Whether it is the anxiety that precedes a medical procedure, the uncertainty of an illness, or the physical trauma of a broken bone, dealing with a medical issue is seldom if ever anyone’s idea of relaxing.

Our tech-savvy, consumer-based culture relies heavily on flexible, simple, accessible payment options when making purchases and obtaining services. One of these solutions is payment by telephone - a process that typically involves calling a customer service department and relaying important and valuable personal information to a live agent.

Today’s consumers expect to be able to buy and receive services when it is convenient for them. Consumers want to do business on their terms and in their own time. This has driven businesses to offer 24/7 online customer service, around-the-clock telephone customer service, or, at the very least, remain open for extended business hours.

IVR Payments (Interactive Voice Response) is a technology that allows customers to make payments for bills, fees, and contributions over the telephone by interacting with an automated system.

The way healthcare providers take payment with credit cards is undergoing significant and continuous change as a result of the Payment Card Industry (PCI) security requirements, and the efforts of PCI Security Standard Council to secure credit card holder information.

PCI Compliance Standards, which are mandatory for any organization processing credit card payments, are more widely adopted to protect consumer’s credit card information. Organizations are turning to automation, specifically IVR Payments, to remove live agents when handling consumers credit card information.

Everything we hear about PCI compliance is about how expensive and time consuming it can be. However, what we don’t hear is how it can lead to cost savings when innovation is brought in to the equation.

If your business is accepting credit cards as a form of payment for good and services over the telephone either collected by live agents or using an automated IVR you MUST be PCI Compliant.

IVR Payments is a phenomenal opportunity to start communicating with your customers the way they want to. Most IVR Payment implementations are driven by security (PCI).

Getting a customer to pay a bill is not always an easy task. Make the most of the time when you have them on the phone ready to move forward to make a payment.