PURCHASE, N.Y.—Mastercard and the Medical Tourism Association (MTA) have announced a partnership they say is designed to “modernize the end-to-end health care experience” for patients and providers.
According to Mastercard, the Medical Tourism Association will utilize Mastercard’s commercial virtual card technology to go beyond arranging treatments to also facilitating fast and secure payments with health care providers.
“This marks a first-of-its-kind move for the medical tourism industry, which has largely remained reliant on cash and wire transfers, leading to a lack of financial transparency and limited payment options for individuals seeking treatments abroad,” Mastercard said in a statement. “Insights from a recent Medical Tourism Patient Survey reveal that over half of patients globally expressed concerns over international payments due to hidden costs, exchange rate complexities and greater fraud risk, demonstrating a clear need to improve the payment process.”
‘Book & Pay’
Mastercard said patients will be able to “simply book and pay for their treatment using a payment method of their choice,” while the MTA “seamlessly handles the rest” by leveraging Mastercard’s virtual card technology.
“As soon as the payment is initiated and validated, the MTA’s banking partner will issue a Mastercard virtual card to pay the health care provider directly. Introducing virtual cards also brings a range of benefits to providers,” the card company said. “These include increased security, robust controls, and real-time remittance data for more efficient reconciliation.”