HIPAA-friendly & PCI DSS Level 1

Secure payments for US healthcare providers

Patients pay co-pays, deductibles, and outstanding balances over the phone without your front-desk team or billing staff ever hearing or seeing card data. PCI DSS Level 1 certified, with a Business Associate Agreement available where PHI is in play.

Healthcare payment processing challenges

US providers carry a double compliance burden — HIPAA on top of PCI DSS — and the rise of high-deductible health plans has pushed more collection responsibility onto the practice. Most payment tools weren't designed with either reality in mind.

Patient responsibility keeps climbing

Average deductibles on commercial plans now run thousands of dollars. That means more co-pays, more deductibles, and more patient balances landing on your billing team — and far more phone calls about payments. The old approach of mailing a statement and hoping doesn't work.

HIPAA and PCI compliance at the same time

Card data and PHI are both regulated, with different rules and different penalties. HHS OCR audits and CMS expectations sit alongside PCI DSS — and a breach involving both is the worst-case scenario. Generic payment tools rarely address both cleanly.

Card numbers in call recordings

If your contact center records calls, every patient who reads a card number aloud puts that data into a recording — which is now in PCI scope and, depending on what was said before and after, possibly mixed with PHI. That's a problem for your QSA and your privacy officer at the same time.

Patients want to pay by phone

Many patients — particularly older or less digitally confident patients — prefer to call. Without a secure phone payment tool, staff end up writing down card numbers or reading them back. That's a compliance failure and a real risk to the practice.

How Paytia solves healthcare payment challenges

DTMF masking technology

We replace keypad tones in real time as the patient enters their card number. Front-desk and billing staff stay on the call and see payment progress on screen — they never hear or see any card data, and nothing identifying lands in your call recording.

BAA-ready for PHI exposure

Where any PHI may pass through the call alongside payment, we'll sign a Business Associate Agreement. We treat that data with the same protections as your EHR vendor or clearinghouse — and we keep card data and PHI architecturally separate.

24/7 patient self-service

Patients can pay co-pays, deductibles, or outstanding balances any time via IVR. Fewer missed payments, fewer voicemails, and less pressure on the front desk during morning check-in.

Zero card data in your environment

Card data never enters your practice — not through your phones, your computers, or your network. There's nothing stored, nothing to steal, and nothing that affects your PCI scope. Most practices drop from SAQ D to SAQ A.

Simple for front-desk and billing staff

Browser-based portal that works on any computer. Staff enter the patient name and amount, the patient keys in their card on their own keypad, and it's done. No specialist training and nothing new to install at the practice.

Works with your existing gateway and EHR

Process through whatever gateway you already use — Stripe, Authorize.net, Chase Paymentech, Elavon, and others. Paytia sits next to your EHR or practice management system rather than replacing it.

Healthcare payment use cases

From independent medical practices to hospital revenue cycle teams, Paytia covers the phone payment scenarios that come up every day in US healthcare.

Medical practices

Collect co-pays, deductibles, and patient balances over the phone without front-desk staff handling card data — even between patients during a busy clinic.

Dental practices

Take payment for treatment plans, orthodontic care, and elective work in a single call. Set up payment plans for larger balances without paperwork.

Specialty clinics and surgical centers

Surgery balances and pre-procedure deposits are higher-value calls. Paytia handles them securely with no card data in your environment.

Hospital revenue cycle and patient billing

Centralized billing teams take inbound calls all day. DTMF masking means agents never hear card numbers — and your call recordings stay clean.

HIPAA & HHS OCR

Where Paytia sits in your HIPAA picture

Pure payment processing isn't usually a HIPAA matter — the financial institution exemption covers most card transactions. But the moment a payment call references a patient name, a procedure, or a diagnosis, you've potentially got PHI in scope. We sign a Business Associate Agreement so you're covered either way, and we architect the platform so payment data and any incidental PHI never end up co-mingled in a way that creates breach exposure.

HHS Office for Civil Rights audits look closely at how Business Associates handle PHI and how covered entities oversee them. Removing card data from your environment, keeping recordings clean, and having a current BAA on file are all things that hold up well under that kind of scrutiny.

Benefits for healthcare providers

Removes card data from your network — drops PCI scope from SAQ D to SAQ A
Front-desk and billing staff never hear or see card numbers
Works alongside your EHR and practice management systems
24/7 IVR so patients can pay outside office hours
PCI DSS Level 1 certified — audited annually by a QSA
BAA available where any PHI may be present on the call
Supports payment plans for high-deductible balances
Full reporting for revenue cycle and accounting teams

Compliance and certifications

PCI DSS Level 1

The highest level of PCI certification. Paytia is audited annually by a Qualified Security Assessor — so you don't need to be.

HIPAA Business Associate

BAA available for healthcare clients. We treat any PHI that may pass through a payment call with the same protections as a covered entity would.

Privacy regulations

We handle patient payment data with strict privacy controls. Card data is never stored in your systems and our retention practices are designed for state and federal scrutiny.

SOC 2 aligned

Our security controls map to SOC 2 trust services criteria — useful when your security or vendor risk team needs documentation.

Frequently asked questions

Will Paytia sign a Business Associate Agreement?+

Yes. Where any PHI may pass through a payment call — a patient name, a procedure code, anything identifying — we'll sign a BAA. Pure payment processing often falls under the HIPAA financial institution exemption, but most US providers prefer a BAA on file for the avoidance of doubt, and we're happy to put one in place.

How does Paytia help with HIPAA and PCI together?+

We process card payments outside your network entirely, so card data never reaches your phones, computers, EHR, or call recordings. That keeps PCI scope minimal — usually SAQ A — and means there's no scenario where card data ends up in the same system as PHI. Your privacy officer and your QSA can both look at the architecture and be satisfied.

Does it work with our EHR or practice management system?+

Yes. Paytia runs in a browser alongside whatever EHR or practice management system you already use — Epic, Cerner, athenahealth, NextGen, eClinicalWorks, and others. There's no direct integration required, no IT project, and no vendor approval process to get started.

Can patients pay outside office hours?+

Yes. The IVR self-service option lets patients pay 24/7 without staff involvement. That's useful for co-pays they forgot to bring, deductibles that hit after a visit, and balances on a statement they've just opened at 9pm.

How does this hold up in an HHS OCR audit?+

OCR audits look at how Business Associates handle PHI, how covered entities oversee them, and whether reasonable safeguards are in place. Removing card data from your environment, keeping call recordings free of sensitive data, having a current BAA, and being able to point to a Level 1 PCI certification all support the kind of documentation an audit asks for. We'll provide whatever evidence your compliance team needs.

Does it work with our existing payment gateway?+

Paytia supports the major US gateways including Stripe, Authorize.net, Chase Paymentech, Elavon, and others. You keep your existing merchant account and banking relationships — we just provide the secure collection layer on top.

Ready to take card data out of your healthcare environment?

Medical practices, specialty clinics, and hospital revenue cycle teams use Paytia to collect phone payments without touching card data — and without a complex IT project.