Getting Paid in Real-Time

Hospitals and health systems, insurers and other third-party payers spend a fortune each year on processing payment. Now, a tech startup and Blue Shield of California are out to make the payment experience at hospitals as easy as checking out at the grocery story.

OODA Health, which focuses on removing inefficiency from health care administration, and Blue Shield of California are building a cloud-based platform to provide payments to providers immediately after care is delivered. The companies will test the new technology as a pilot program with Dignity Health and Hill Physicians in Oakland.

In a report on the project in HealthLeaders, Sophie Pinkard, OODA Health's co-founder and head of product, said her firm aims to address the $500 billion spent in the U.S. each year on moving money between payers and providers. If successful, the project could also give a financial boost to providers and further facilitate the move toward consumerism in health care.

In September, OODA Health announced it had raised $40.5 million in venture capital to fund its efforts to transform the U.S. health care payment system. The company's strategic partners include Anthem; Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona; Zaffre Investments, a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts; and Hill Physicians.