- Flywire acquires OnPlan Holdings LLC
- Consumers offered better options for money transfers on health and education payments
Both the healthcare and education payments markets share a base of customers who have to make large, lump sum payments regularly in order to receive services, such as medical procedures or college enrollment.
Making these payments via international money transfer can be difficult. There's a general lack of transparency regarding currency exchange rates and often long wait times for transferred funds to post to a receiver's account, which leaves patients, parents, and students in an uncomfortable limbo. Then there's always the added worry that funds sent will be matched to the right party by the receiving institution.
Domestically, students and patients may also struggle to cover the cost of larger account balances. For example, students often cannot pay for incidentals like books and supplies in a single payment, while medical patients may not have sufficient funds available to cover a high insurance deductible or an outstanding balance on a procedure not covered by insurance. If the receiving institution is not able to offer a manageable payment plan, students and patients are left without many options.
Since 2009, money transfer service Flywire has been making this process easier for international patients and students by working with receiving institutions to manage account balances and simplify international payments for customers.
From 2014, OnPlan Holdings has been doing the same for domestic customers by helping US-based colleges and medical facilities offer payment services to students and patients.
Last week, Flywire announced its acquisition of OnPlan Holdings LLC – the parent company of OnPlanU and OnPlanHealth. The move brings together two industry leaders to offer education and healthcare consumers even more options when sending international or domestic money transfers.
Each company has built a reputation for striving to create payment transactions that are more transparent and cost-effective for both senders and receivers.
According to OnPlan CEO John Talaga, both companies are familiar with the unique challenges of serving the complex healthcare and education industries during a time when those costs keep increasing.
One of the biggest challenges for consumers is that in both healthcare and higher education, a large sum of cash is typically due at one time. If people are unable to pay, there can be serious consequences, including students not being able to continue their education, patients not receiving the medical treatment they need, or lapsed accounts that get sent to collections.
Customers, especially international ones, simply need better options.
With Flywire's acquisition of OnPlan, the two firms are now able to combine their services to offer start-to-finish solutions for domestic and international customers, including invoicing, payment processing, recurring and automated payments, payment plans, tracking, consumer engagement, accounts reconciliation, and mitigation of overdue payments.
"We are now a fully integrated, one-stop solution for the people [hospitals and higher education] serve,” said Sharon Butler, Executive Vice President of Education and Healthcare at Flywire. “Together, we can improve people's experiences by giving them options, saving them money and giving them peace of mind, while giving the institutions the tools they need to make those options available."
