So many people we saw at Fintech Meetup asked us about trends in healthcare payments that we started writing them down! Thus the list you see below was born. Feel free to let us know what we've missed!
Speaking of conferences, we plan to attend HFMA in Washington DC in early June. We'll also be in Chicago from May 4-6. Drop us a note here if you'd like to meet up in either location.
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FEATURE ARTICLE
Top Trends in Healthcare Payments for 2026
With healthcare accounting for one-fifth of the U.S. economy and patient out-of-pocket costs climbing steadily, the payments infrastructure supporting this sector is evolving fast. Here are seven trends shaping healthcare payments in 2026.
1. AI-Powered Revenue Cycle Now Table Stakes
AI is no longer a futuristic concept in healthcare billing – it’s rapidly becoming the operational backbone. Healthcare organizations are deploying AI across the entire revenue cycle, from automated coding and claims scrubbing to predictive denial management and payer-specific rule enforcement. The shift in 2026 is toward "agentic AI" – systems that don't just flag issues but autonomously handle tasks like prior auth, eligibility verification, benefits checks, and patient inquiries.
2. Shrinking of Digital Payment Gap
There's a stark mismatch that's forcing change: 70% of consumers still receive medical bills via traditional mail, yet only 9% want to pay by paper check. Meanwhile, 37% want to pay online and 32% via mobile app. The generational divide is a major catalyst - PYMNTS found that 68% of Gen Z patients encountered at least one payment barrier during their last healthcare transaction, compared to just 18% of boomers. Contactless payments now account for nearly 60% of point-of-service healthcare transactions, and card-on-file convenience is becoming standard practice for medical offices in 2026. Providers who don't modernize risk losing younger patients entirely.
3. Acceleration of Surcharging
A few years ago, passing credit card fees to patients was nearly unthinkable. Today, 45% of independent medical and dental practices in the 2026 ProviderPay survey we recently fielded with Adyen say they add credit card surcharges. Veterinary clinics are even higher at 55%. Factor in office managers who say they may surcharge in the future, and we could see 85–90% of independent providers passing along credit card fees.
4. Adoption of Embedded Payments
Healthcare software platforms – EHRs, practice management systems, and even veterinary systems – are increasingly building payment processing directly into their software. In this embedded model, onboarding, processing, and fund flows live natively inside the software. According to our 2026 ProviderPay research, 32% of the 199 practices surveyed already use some form of embedded payments. The payoff: practices spend less time on payment-related admin, and platforms earn a greater share of revenue from processing. ModMed Pay (Adyen), Planet DDS Pay (Stripe), Curve Pay (Stripe), and Instinct Pay (Adyen) are good examples.
5. Introduction of Embedded Financing
Processors aren't stopping at payment transactions. Companies with embedded payments inside practice management software are layering on lending – especially working capital lines and patient financing. Affirm's partnership with RepeatMD to offer financing within cosmetic practice management is one early example, and both Stripe and Adyen are looking seriously at embedded lending in healthcare. Processors are positioned for this because handling a practice's payments gives them visibility into its cash flow. To offer these services, they either hold a bank charter, partner with a sponsor bank, or integrate a third party's product.
6. Rise of Real-Time and Automated Payment Processing
Healthcare payments are moving toward near real-time processing, a shift that promises faster reimbursements, reduced administrative costs, and better patient transparency. The trend extends beyond patient payments to the B2B side: payer-to-provider reimbursement, automated supplier payments, and real-time revenue insights. Virtual credit cards for provider payments are giving way to ACH, as providers pushed back against interchange fees. Zelis, ECHO Health, and InstaMed (JP Morgan) are leading the shift toward enhanced ACH, which delivers remittance data, faster settlement, and payment confirmation alongside the funds.
7. Banks Doubling Down on Healthcare
A handful of large commercial banks – JP Morgan, Bank of America, PNC – have built dedicated healthcare units over the last two decades. Now, other national and larger regional banks are investing more aggressively in the vertical. Our industry conversations, including at Fintech Meetup, confirm these institutions are rethinking product scope, bundling, and go-to-market approaches to win more healthcare business. Given the sector's size and the growth of patient responsibility, healthcare has simply become too big to ignore. But they better move fast. As noted in trend #5, new entrants offering embedded lending are going to eat into their traditional healthcare SMB lending business.
INDUSTRY TRENDS
Continued weakness in veterinary visit volumes
Those of you who follow our research and consulting work know that we define "healthcare payments" to include veterinary (animal health) in addition to the medical and dental segments. So we occasionally note relevant trends in the vet space.
Our friends at William Blair recently concluded that they believe veterinary healthcare visits declined by 1.6% in Q1 2026. A lower number of transactions has the potential to impact payment volumes at vet clinics, though higher unit pricing may lead to an increase in total purchase volume. This trend is certainly worth noting for payments companies serving the veterinary market.
Source: William Blair Healthcare | Animal Health Equity Research Team
According to William Blair, several factors are driving a multiyear downward trend in visit volumes:
continued growth of the cat population, which has fewer visits on average than dogs
higher prices at vet clinics leading to consumer spending pullback
increase in alternative site care delivery options (home/ virtual based care and online purchases) - though from a payments perspective, this volume will still be captured just at a different site
Bad weather in Q1 which drove high volatility in weekly results may have also contributed to an overall lower number of clinic visits.
CEO CHAT
We're highlighting two recent CEO Chats today. We featured Brian Kelly, Head of PNC Healthcare, who shares his perspectives on providing commercial banking and financial services to U.S. healthcare providers and payers.
Brian Whorley, Founder & CEO of Paytient, also joined us recently. Paytient is one of a new crop of players offering employers better options to help their workers afford to pay for healthcare.
For our full library of past CEO Chats, visit our Insights page or go directly to the CEO Chat section of our blog.
AI IN HEALTHCARE
Source: Menlo Ventures
According to an October 2025 report from Menlo Ventures, healthcare is dramatically outpacing the broader U.S. economy in adopting purpose-built, domain-specific AI tools. While fewer than 1 in 10 U.S. companies (9%) have implemented paid licenses for AI applications - and most rely on generic solutions like enterprise ChatGPT - 22% of healthcare organizations have deployed commercial domain-specific AI applications, a 7x increase over 2024. That's a 2.4x adoption gap, and it widens further within specific segments: health systems lead at 27%, followed by outpatient facilities (18%) and payers (14%). Menlo Ventures attributes the urgency to margin pressure, clinician burnout, and labor shortages.
Mumbai, India-based IKS Healthcare is considering buying Mobile, AL-based TruBridge (formerly CPSI), according to reports. This would continue a trend of India-based technology companies expanding further into the U.S. revenue cycle market. TruBridge offers EHR, practice management, revenue cycle and related software primarily to community and rural hospitals. The deal would enable IKS to scale automation and AI-driven RCM solutions within the relatively fragmented small hospital market.
Adonis raises $40M Series C for AI-driven RCM platform
New York-based Adonis has announced the close of a $40 million Series C funding led by Quadrille Capital. Existing investors General Catalyst and Bling Capital also participated. The company describes itself as having the leading "AI orchestration platform for RCM", which proactively monitors and detects revenue cycle issues, recommends tailored actions, and autonomously progresses claims to resolution. Adonis Co-Founder Akash Magoon shared his perspectives in a CEO Chat in August 2024.
Turquoise Health raises $40M for healthcare contracts platform
San Diego, CA-based Turquoise Health announced it has raised $40 million in Series C funding led by Oak HC/FT and participation from existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Adams Street Partners, and Yosemite. Turquoise's platform creates a "new way to price, contract and transact in healthcare" which is helping create the infrastructure for transparent and real-time payments. The company was founded in 2021 and has grown to serve 280+ customers including 10 of the top 25 health systems, 4 of the 5 national payers, 9 of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies, and 6 of the top 10 insurance brokers.
Knowtion Health acquires revenue cycle startup revly
Boca Raton, FL-based Knowtion Health has finalized its purchase of revly, a small revenue cycle company specializing in recovering missed revenue for hospitals. The founder of revly, Bennett Holden, is based in Minneapolis. Knowtion Health was founded in 2008 and counts 550+ hospitals as customers. Investors include Arsenal Capital Partners and Sunstone Partners.
Collectly acquiring Pledge Health to accelerate AI
San Francisco-based Collectly, which offers an AI-powered patient financial experience platform for healthcare providers, has acquired Pledge Health. Pledge Health uses AI automation to reduce administrative work associated with pre-service patient financial workflows. This includes coverage and benefits verification, insurance info capture and cleanup, patient pre-registration and intake completion, network/ plan validation and routing, and pre-service cost estimates. Sapphire Ventures led Collectly’s $29 million Series A round.
Brooklyn, NY-based Burst, formerly known as Float, announced a $3 million financing round and disclosed a previous $2.1 million seed round. The financings have been led by Pear VC, with participation from Rock Health Capital, Meridian Ventures, Alumni Ventures, and others. Burst enables consumers with HSA and FSA funds to pay for purchases using any method they prefer. Post-purchase, the platform identifies eligible items and automatically files for reimbursement with the customer's HSA/ FSA administrator.
Conference List. Rolling twelve month look ahead at conferences and other events covering healthcare payments, revenue cycle, fintech and related areas. Updated through November 2026.
FMP Blog. Thoughts from healthcare payments CEOs and investors on their right to win and goals for the year ahead, as well as data and perspectives on healthcare payments.
Newsletter Archive. News, trends, and insights from the healthcare payments industry compiled in our bi-weekly newsletter. Last six months of newsletters.
Epic MyChart. Excel sheet with full listing of all Epic MyChart instances as of May 2024, categorized by state, provider type and specialty.
All of these resources can also be accessed at the FinMed Partners Insights page.
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FinMed Partners is a management consulting and advisory business focusing at the intersection of payments/ fintech and healthcare. Our founders have developed deep expertise from decades of experience with health IT companies, healthcare providers and many players within the payments ecosystem. Investors, boards and executive teams work with us to maximize business value through strategic input and tactical execution.
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