Healthcare

Healthcare processing is supported for card-present and card-not-present transactions. Card-present transactions are transactions where the physical payment card is presented. Card-not-present transactions are transactions where the physical payment card is not presented such as online or phone transactions.

Healthcare fields in authorization or sale requests identify purchases that qualify for payment using healthcare debit cards. This additional data reduces the chance of the card issuer rejecting the transaction.

Healthcare fields are not required for captures, refunds, credits, or other follow-on transactions.

Health Benefit Card Acceptance

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) and Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) can only be used for Internal Revenue Service (IRS)–defined qualified medical expenses under IRS Code 213(d). To comply with IRS requirements, most transactions must be validated at the point of sale to ensure funds are used only for eligible items.

Healthcare merchants, such as doctors' offices, hospitals, and clinics, are generally not required to certify with the Special Interest Group for IIAS Standards, Inc. (SIGIS) or to use the Inventory Information Approval System (IIAS) when accepting FSA or HRA cards for payment. However, non-healthcare retailers must be SIGIS certified and use IIAS to ensure that only eligible items can be purchased with these cards.

Merchants that are not properly configured for these requirements might experience declined FSA or HRA transactions. When required, SIGIS certification confirms that a merchant sells eligible healthcare items and can correctly restrict card usage.

For more information, visit the Special Interest Group for IIAS Standards, Inc. website at SIGIS website.

Card Types

Healthcare transactions are supported on Mastercard and Visa.

Healthcare Payment Services

Healthcare payment services use the standard authorization, capture, and sale request structure with additional healthcare-specific fields.