Australian iPhone users will be able to use their mobile devices as part of their healthcare experience, with HICAPS practitioners in the country now accepting digital health insurance cards held in Apple Wallet.
The change for HICAPS (Health Industry Claims and Payments Service) simplifies the claims process for Australian clients. Members of Medibank, Bupa, nib, and GU Health can now download their digital membership card from their health fund app, and add it to Apple Wallet.
Rather than swiping a plastic card, users will instead be able to tap their iPhone or Apple Watch on any HICAPS terminal to make a claim. Real-time notifications will be provided to the user, provided via their health fund's app.
As is standard for Apple's products and services, security and privacy are maintained with the new system. The health insurance membership card's customer identifier number is encrypted during transmission to the HICAPS terminal, before being decrypted and passed along to the customer's health insurer.
HICAPS terminals are found at over 25,000 healthcare practices and medical centers across Australia, and process over 114,000 claims every day.
According to NAB Executive for Business Everyday Banking Tania Motton, "Claims made using this method help reduce the time spent on manual processing for practitioners due to forgotten plastic cards, while putting money back in customers' bank accounts quicker."