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Payments in the Healthcare Industry

TLDR
  • From wide-ranging expenses to strict regulations, the healthcare industry presents unique complexities in the world of payments and accounts payable (AP).
  • Along with other digital healthcare solutions, payments and AP automation can adapt to your organization’s specific workflow nuances and challenges.
  • Integrate payments with your accounting software to automatically reconcile, so you can spend less time tediously matching—and more time with your patients.
  • There are no setup or initiation fees to start automating your payments process using RBC PayEdge.
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Prescription for Productivity: Payment Solutions and AP Automation in Canadian Healthcare

As a healthcare provider, you have a lot on your plate. From caring for your patients to supporting your team, you need reliable, efficient systems that work as hard as you do.

Coincidentally, we’re in a new digital era that demands smarter, faster systems. On the patient side, this might include digital patient portals, virtual scheduling and check-ins, online billing, telehealth appointments and more. On the practice side, this can include digital patient files, accounting systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms, third-party billing software and more.

Your payments and accounts payable (AP) process  should be able to keep up with this digital shift and the pace of modern healthcare—further fueling your momentum and freeing up your time and resources. That’s where accounts payable automation (opens in a new window) comes in. As a flexible business solution, it has the power to adapt to your practice, helping to ease your growing pains and payment challenges.

From busy schedules to strict regulations, let’s dive into some of the unique accounts payable challenges in the healthcare sector—and how a centralized payment platform such as RBC PayEdge (opens in a new window) can help you overcome them, so you can spend more time and energy delivering quality healthcare.

The Aches and Pains of Accounts Payable in Healthcare

The Canadian healthcare industry has its fair share of accounts payable challenges—here are a few common ones.

Busy, Busy Schedules

No matter your medical field concentration, it’s no secret that doctors, dentists and healthcare practitioners of all types—as well as all the incredible staff and partners who support them—are busy people. You deserve quick, efficient solutions that allow you to breeze through administrative tasks and focus on what matters most: your patients.

But payments can get messy, especially if you’re following the old school manual approach. You might find your team juggling countless invoices, Excel spreadsheets, different systems, suppliers, payment terms, partners, locations, industry regulations and more, making their payments and AP workflows feel anything but quick and efficient.

Wide-Ranging, High-Volume Expenses

You don't need us to tell you that the world of healthcare is complex and wide-reaching, which means your business expenses can be too. Whether you're a part of a family-owned practice with one location or a multi-city organization with complex payment routing systems, your expenses can add up and complicate your payable process—fast.

Here's a glimpse into the complex and varied expenses across several different healthcare disciplines.

  • Family physicians typically rely less on equipment and consumables, but still have high costs for basic medical supplies, rent, medical record software and more.
  • Dentists might have higher consumable costs for things like floss, syringes, dental bibs, gloves, masks, fillings, composites, crown/bridge materials and other items.
  • Dermatologists usually pay for innovative equipment such as lasers and expensive consumables like biopsy kits, sterilization supplies and injectables.
  • Optometrists might use expensive eye testing equipment and see high inventory costs for retail offerings such as glasses and contact lenses.
  • Physiotherapists might purchase several therapeutic tools like resistance bands, foam rollers, exercise balls, free weights, balance boards and a number of different assessment tools.
  • Chiropractors may pay for rehabilitation equipment, decompression tables, electrotherapy equipment and digital tools.
  • Massage therapists may purchase massage tables, chairs, bolsters, linens, massage oils, lotions and a wide range of specialized equipment.
  • Psychologists typically have fewer consumable and equipment needs, focusing on costs such as rent, liability insurance and scheduling platforms.


This is not a comprehensive list, but it gives you an idea of the possible variation in expenses within the healthcare industry. Because expenses are so wide-ranging between practices (even ones in the same discipline), there's a huge need for payment solutions that can adapt to your unique needs and processes—like integrated payables and AP automation.

All Hands on Deck

You've probably heard the saying: "It takes a village," and this is especially true in the world of healthcare. Your day-to-day could involve so many different people, whether they're patients, suppliers, service providers, staff members, specialists, pharmacists, regulatory agencies and more!

All these unique (and extremely important) roles can really complicate your payable process, especially if you're juggling a high volume of paper invoices, spreadsheets, accounting records and other infamous cornerstones of a manual payments and AP process.

Complicated Financial Systems

With complex expenses and multiple participants come complicated financial systems. With your medical billing systems, patient portals, accounting or ERP software, spreadsheets and more, it can be challenging to keep track of all the different isolated platforms involved in your financial ecosystem.

A complex, old-school accounts payable process only makes these platforms feel more disjointed. When you follow a manual payments process, it feels like there's no hope of integrating your financial systems, which can amplify your workflow headaches—including mistakes, bottlenecks, late payments and more.

Merging Practices

Since 2020 (and especially in 2021), the Canadian healthcare sector has seen a surge in mergers and acquisitions (M&As).1 This means practices are merging with others to create larger organizations, or firms are acquiring practices to promote integration and more centralized control. While the decision to undergo an M&A is extremely complex and nuanced, it can lead to benefits such as increased care capacity, resource consolidation and more.

With these benefits come complications, such as financial restructuring, regulatory scrutiny, highly sensitive data rollovers and more. In times like these, when every aspect of your practice is under a magnifying glass, a messy manual payable process can really cause more trouble.

Strict Regulations

With strict federal and provincial regulations across the healthcare industry, it's important that your payment workflows are easy to track, report and audit to ensure (and show) compliance. Some examples of regulations include:

  • The Canada Health Act (CHA): This federal legislation outlines the criteria that Canada's provinces and territories must meet to receive full funding via the country's publicly-funded healthcare system.
  • The Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA): This is Ontario's health privacy act, which aims to protect confidential personal health information.
  • The Health Information Act (HIA): This is Alberta's health privacy legislation, which establishes rules surrounding how health information is collected, used, disclosed and protected.
  • Quebec's Bill 3: This Act lays the legal groundwork for the handling of information related to health and social services—including collection, storage and usage. It aims to strengthen protection, while also optimizing and prioritizing timely communication.


With paper files, loose internal controls and poor external guardrails, a manual accounts payable process can lead to weak security, reporting and visibility. And with potentially sensitive information in your systems, security is mission critical.

How Integrated Payables and AP Automation Relieves Headaches in Healthcare

It wouldn't be right to end on a negative note, so let's dive into a few benefits of AP automation (opens in a new window) that are specific to the healthcare industry.

Efficient and Accurate

Here's a quick look at how accounts payable software can clean up specific messes caused by a manual payable process.

Manual Automated
Juggle countless paper invoices without a clear view of your practice's financial picture. Digitize and centralize your payment processes for an organized, clear view.
Chase down approvals via email, instant message or in-person conversation. Automate your approval rules and routes and notify approvers of outstanding items.
Retroactively correct human errors that slow down your process at every turn. Minimize human error using an automated, digital platform.
Wait for sufficient funds or waste time transferring money between your accounts. Combine multiple funding sources (including credit cards) into a single payment in just a few clicks.
Manually (and tediously) reconcile payments with your accounting records. Automatically reconcile payments with your integrated accounting software.

Cost-Effective and Adaptable

With RBC PayEdge, you can choose a pricing plan (opens in a new window) based on the payment volume of your accounts payable process. If your organization handles multiple payments per month, you can choose from an RBC PayEdge subscription plan for a competitive monthly fee. If you handle lower payment volumes, you can choose to pay as you go—a great option for smaller healthcare practices. Plus, you can use our calculator (opens in a new window) to estimate your monthly costs for each plan, and it's easy to switch between plans whenever you see fit!

If your organization involves multiple practices that have "fused" together as one bigger business (or you simply work at a large practice), all your team members can use the same RBC PayEdge account. There's no limit to the number of users you can add to your account.

Easy to Use—Right Away

When you use RBC PayEdge, you don't have to deal with any setup or initiation fees, and you can start transacting right away. We know speed and ease are extremely important in the world of healthcare, so we've made it simple to start automating your payments process without jumping through hoops.

All you have to do is sign up, set up your user profile, choose your pricing plan and set up your funding sources (bank accounts, credit cards and/or credit union accounts) to start transacting. You can also sync RBC PayEdge with your accounting software to mass import your suppliers and invoices. Once you complete the payment, RBC PayEdge will automatically reconcile the payment with your synced accounting software too.

Flexibility in Paying Vendors and Suppliers

Enjoy flexible payment options when you automate your payable process with RBC PayEdge. You can add almost any Canadian-domiciled accounts (whether it's an RBC business account (opens in a new window) or not), including many credit unions. You can also add Mastercard or Visa credit cards from most Canadian issuers.

When you go to issue a payment, you can select funds from any of your added accounts, and RBC PayEdge will combine the funds into a single automated payment. This allows you to:

  • Save time on transfers between your accounts
  • Avoid funding delays (and the fees that come with late payments)
  • Effortlessly generate cheques using funds from multiple sources
  • Pay via credit card—even if your recipient doesn't accept them


Plus, when you make international payments with RBC PayEdge, you'll know exactly what fees you'll pay upfront2 based on your pricing package.

Automatic Payment Reconciliation

It's common for integrated payables and AP automation platforms to seamlessly integrate with your accounting software to digitize your payment reconciliation process. RBC PayEdge integrates with Sage, Xero and QuickBooks Online, so your accounting software updates automatically once you send payment to your vendor or supplier.

This way, your team can spend less time tediously matching payments to accounting records—and more time on tasks that directly support your mission to provide top-notch care.

Better Transparency and Stronger Security

Because RBC PayEdge gives your payable process its own digital, centralized platform, it provides better transparency for everyone involved. Instead of messy paper files that keep everyone siloed and disjointed, it gives you a clear, real-time view of your payable process—allowing your team to easily see invoice statuses, approval hold-ups, specific vendor information and more.

With RBC PayEdge, you can also enjoy peace of mind knowing your automated AP process is secure. Because it connects to existing banking infrastructure, RBC PayEdge is held to the highest financial security standards. It utilizes enhanced encryption (above industry-standard procedures) to eliminate exposure of sensitive data. Your practice, partners and patients can all rest easy knowing all data is safe and protected.

Let RBC Care for You

As a healthcare provider, you’re always taking care of others. At RBC, we’re honoured to have the opportunity help you care for your (and your organization’s) financial health. Beyond accounts payable software, we offer financial solutions to help you reach your goals, whether that means collecting credit card rewards or growing your practice. Here are a few solutions you might like to explore:

  • RBC Healthcare Advantage (opens in a new window) supports Canadian healthcare professionals through personalized financial solutions and savings. Through the program, you can access exclusive, competitive rates on loans, lines of credit and other banking products. You can also unlock special perks like rewards points, credit card rebates and waived bank account fees.
  • RBC offers a wide variety of business and commercial card (opens in a new window) options to make expense management easy. The Commercial Cards Program (opens in a new window) offers a complete solution for your company’s travel, purchasing and invoice payments. You can extend your days payable, tap into rewards and benefits and digitize your payment needs with our powerful card reporting platform that allows you to create and manage cards in real-time. Plus, you get access to a range of physical and virtual card options.
  • Dr.Bill (opens in a new window) is an advanced, secure medical billing software for practices and hospitals across Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. It’s designed to save you time, streamline your financial management and simplify the billing process for everyone involved. As an RBC business banking client, you can get tailored pricing for your team’s billing needs—and up to 48% off clinic and hospital billing.3


We know you’re busy taking care of others, and you deserve systems that support your work, not slow it down. To find tailored solutions that fit your needs, connect with an RBC Healthcare Specialist (opens in a new window).

Frequently Asked Questions

Accounts payable automation is a type of payment solution used to digitize, modernize and streamline your company’s payable process. RBC PayEdge is an innovative AP automation platform designed to integrate with your existing accounting software (QuickBooks, Xero or Sage) to automate your AP process from beginning to end.

AP automation through RBC PayEdge allows you to speed up the payable process, reduce errors, avoid paper, stay flexible in your funding, simplify the approvals workflow, automatically reconcile payments and so much more. All in all, AP automation frees up significant chunks of time, so you and your AP team can focus on other parts of the business. To learn more, check out What is Accounts Payable (AP) Automation and How Can It Improve My Payable Process? (opens in a new window)
Yes. All payments are made directly from the funding source of your choice to supplier’s bank accounts. This is made possible because RBC PayEdge is connected to existing banking infrastructure and is thereby held to the highest financial security standards. RBC PayEdge exceeds all Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards and is subject to annual compliance audits. RBC PayEdge utilizes enhanced encryption going above industry-standard procedures for payments to eliminate exposure of sensitive data.

The RBC PayEdge platform uses 256-bit Extended Validation (EV) Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption technology to secure information as it travels across our network. This technology ensures that no third party can access information as it is entered into our site. Our technology platform is designed to protect your data in transit and keep it safe and secure when it is here.
No, you don’t need to have your bank accounts with RBC to use RBC PayEdge; businesses can use RBC PayEdge whether or not they are an RBC banking client.
Personal Information:
  • • Contact and personal details for Directors, Officers and Owners and those who will be using the RBC PayEdge platform
  • • Personal Identification will be confirmed via a Canadian or US driver’s license or passport
  • • For RBC Clients only: Login credentials for RBC Online Banking platform


Business Information:
  • • Identification (Legal and Trade Name), Structure, Contact Information and Physical Address of the business
  • • Ownership details
  • • Confirm individuals with signing authority
  • • Bank account information (to add a funding source)
You can pay suppliers by wire transfer, Interac e-Transfer for business, Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), USD cross-border Automated Clearing House (ACH), EUR International Payment, bill payment, virtual credit card payment* and cheque. Suppliers don't need to be RBC clients to receive payments.

*Virtual credit card payment is only available for RBC Commercial Credit cards at this time.