Healthcare consumerism drives new payment strategies for banks
Columbus, GA, September 23, 2005 - Staggering increases in the costs of corporate health benefits and other economic factors are driving a new consumerism in the form of consumer-directed health plans that's resulted in a window of opportunity for financial institutions to enter the healthcare sector, says Bob Borneman, vice president of healthcare product development for TSYS Prepaid.
"Because corporations' average cost of healthcare has doubled since 1999, consumers are being asked to share more of the burden for the cost of their healthcare. In response, we're seeing a proliferation of health-savings accounts and related services," Mr. Borneman says.
"Now that they have more accountability for their healthcare payments, consumers realize that they are more comfortable dealing with their banks than their health plans," Mr. Borneman says. "Banks can leverage this opening by linking debit cards to these healthcare accounts, which will create new revenue opportunities."
Mr. Borneman will discuss these trends and the technology requirements for banks that are evaluating healthcare strategies at the 13th Annual ATM & Debit Forum, an event hosted by SourceMedia Conferences. The ATM & Debit Forum will be held Sept. 25-27 at Miami's Sheraton Bal Harbour Beach Resort. For more information about the conference, see www.sourcemediaconferences.com.
Mr. Borneman is a 16-year veteran of the healthcare industry, with experience in claims and related healthcare-transaction processing for healthcare providers and payers. After working for healthcare technology firms such as ProxyMed, MedUnite, Equifax Healthcare EDI and others, Mr. Borneman joined TSYS Prepaid in 2004 to develop the company's emerging healthcare initiative. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Georgia (Athens, Ga.) and a master's degree from Georgia State University (Atlanta, Ga.).
About TSYS Prepaid
TSYS PrepaidSM, a wholly owned subsidiary of TSYS (NYSE: TSS), is a leading provider of prepaid card solutions that utilize the Visa®, MasterCard®, EFT and ATM networks. These solutions are powered by a flexible proprietary processing platform that is specifically designed for the prepaid market.
TSYS Prepaid's solutions have been utilized by Fortune 500 companies, small- and medium-size enterprises and leading financial institutions, and have proven to be highly effective for numerous applications, including FSA administration, payroll processing, claims processing, gift cards, corporate incentives, consumer promotions, teen payments and unbanked solutions.
TSYS Prepaid offers expert solution deployment services, from facilitating sponsoring bank and payment network approvals to transaction processing and program management. TSYS Prepaid provides turnkey solutions complete with online, real-time administration and reporting and other unique system features that are vital to the prepaid market.
TSYS Prepaid (www.tsysprepaid.com) is based in New York.
About TSYS
TSYS (www.tsys.com) is one of the world's largest companies for outsourced payment services, offering a broad range of issuer- and acquirer-processing technologies that support consumer-finance, credit, debit and prepaid services for financial institutions and retail companies in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific. Based in Columbus, Georgia, TSYS (NYSE: TSS) is 80-percent held by Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE: SNV), one of FORTUNE magazine's "Most Admired Companies" and a member of its "100 Best Companies to Work For" Hall of Fame. For more information, contact news@tsys.com.
Contacts
Cyle Mims
TSYS Media Relations
+1.706.644.3110
cylemims@tsys.com
Andy Savitt
TSYS Prepaid
+1.212.563.4433, ext. 297
andy.savitt@tsysprepaid.com