Wisconsin health insurer Health Payment Systems Inc. (HPS) and its health payments platform PayMedix said Tuesday that the firms have purchased TempoPay, a payments solution designed to help employees access medical, dental, pharmacy and other expenses not paid by their insurance.
TempoPay was created at Redesign Health, a New York health startup creator. Together, HPS/PayMedix and TempoPay expect to offer a comprehensive health care financing and payments system.
“Healthcare costs are increasingly becoming a disproportionate share of the American household wallet, and we need better solutions to manage the stress this puts on family budgets,” said Tom Policelli, CEO of HPS/PayMedix, in a press release. “The acquisition of TempoPay underscores our mission to simplify healthcare and create greater health equity by removing the financial barriers that stand in the way of employees getting access to the care they need when they need it; not just when they feel that they can afford it.”
For an employer, TempoPay offers employees interest-free financing for health care services overlaying their current plans. TempoPay VISA cards can be used to pay for everything from medical care and prescriptions to vision and dental bills; even vet bills for their pet and other approved health and wellness-related costs not covered by their plans.
The employer sets the dollar amount and charge types that will be processed, and employees can repay their bills over time interest-free via payroll or bank account.
The companies tout the PayMedix and TempoPay platforms as "credit-blind," meaning all employees qualify regardless of credit histories.
Brian Marsella, president of HPS/PayMedix, said one in four PayMedix members would be unable to get financing for their health care based on credit scores.
"With TempoPay, we can reach even more members to help them get and stay healthy,” he said.
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Milwaukee-based HPS first launched what is now PayMedix as a health care financing platform that was only available for patients and providers covered under its Wisconsin-based health insurance network. After bringing on a new investor in early 2021 — when Policelli joined the company as CEO — HPS branded the platform as PayMedix and began offering it as a service that works with any insurance network in any state.
HPS said it now has an independent network of more than 100 hospital facilities and over 29,200 individual providers. HPS/PayMedix raised $25 million from investors in early 2023 with plans to grow the PayMedix platform.
Financial terms of the acquisition of TempoPay were not disclosed.
