33% of Physician Offices Do Not Accept Credit Cards

May 27, 2009

Updated study reveals business opportunities for patient and office financing

IRVINE, Calif. — At a time when the U.S. government is taking a stand to provide consumers with a measure of protection against subjective credit-card fees and interest rate increases, SK&A Information Services, Inc., a leading provider of healthcare information solutions and research, today released its Physician Office Credit-Card Acceptance Survey, which concluded that 33% of U.S. physician offices do not accept credit cards as a form of payment. This represents a 5% increase since last year’s survey, and the research suggests doctor offices are limiting this form of payment as a result of their patients being adversely affected by high interest rates, maxed out credit limits and a more challenging ability to qualify for credit.

“Since the U.S. credit crisis exploded last year, creditors have become synonymous with excessive rate and fee increases, and we’re seeing the effects of that in the latest Physician Office Credit-Card Acceptance Survey,” said Dave Escalante, President and CEO of SK&A. “Today, fewer patients are able to use their credit cards at doctor offices because of the worsening consumer credit situation.”

The Physician Office Credit-Card Acceptance Survey, when segmented by physician-office specialty, also exposed a trend that offices that specialize in elective or cosmetic procedures, and typically don’t bill insurance companies, are more likely to accept credit cards. The offices that accept credit cards most often are those of plastic surgeons, with a 91% acceptance rate, while pathology offices accept them the least, with a 21% acceptance rate. Other specialties with high acceptance rates are:
• Ophthalmology (84%)
• Bariatrics (83%)
• Otolaryngology (83%)
• Dermatology (81%)

Specialties with low acceptance rates include:
• Dialysis (27%)
• Geriatric medicine (32%)
• Nuclear medicine (35%)
• Critical-care medicine (37%)

Of those offices who accept credit cards, 66% take either MasterCard or Visa. The least accepted credit card at U.S. physician offices is American Express, at 27.7%.

Escalante continued, “The recently passed Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights Act of 2009 will lead consumers from misleading contract language and unfair rate and fee increases, which should invigorate consumer credit spending. Our report can be used to compare current and past credit spending and physician credit-card acceptance rates. It will be interesting to see how the new law will affect next year’s physician credit-card acceptance rates.”

Results of the Physician Office Credit-Card Acceptance Survey are based on telephone surveys with 202,650 physician offices nationwide completed in April 2009. Custom reports based on geography, specialty, practice ownership or sizes are also available, upon request.

Editor’s Note: For a copy of the Physician Office Credit-Card Acceptance Survey, please contact SK&A Director of Marketing Jack Schember at 800-752-5478, ext. 1259.

About SK&A Information Services, Inc.
Celebrating its 27th anniversary, SK&A researches and maintains contact and profiling information for over two million healthcare practitioners, including 800,000-plus prescribers. SK&A also offers the largest database of practitioner email addresses. SK&A’s customers include many of America’s most recognized healthcare and pharmaceutical institutions. Please visit www.skainfo.com for more information or www.skalivecounts.com for counts and ordering.

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