05.10.06 | TRANSFIRST and Gateway EDI Announce Partnership to Bring Credit Card Processing to Claims/EDI Health Care Clients

Portal-based, state-of-the-art technology will allow users to bypass the challenges of shifting private pay revenue collection and enable providers to process payments with added integration and efficiency

DALLAS and ST. LOUIS (May 10, 2006) — TRANSFIRST Health Services, Inc. a division of TRANSFIRST HOLDINGS, INC., a leading provider of credit card processing services and payment enabling technologies, and Gateway EDI, one of the nation’s fastest growing health care EDI providers with more than 25,000 heath care providers nationwide, announced today a new partnership that will provide Gateway EDI health care clients with a payment processing tool. The new service linking the TRANSFIRST TRANSACTION CENTRAL™ system to the Gateway EDI portal significantly increases efficiency in handling co-pay and post-adjudication payment handling for enrolled users. Through a single sign-on process, staff in practices using the Gateway EDI platform will be able to manage their EDI transaction submission and management along with credit card and ACH payment entry, audit, and reporting.

The new service combines TRANSFIRST’s processing capabilities for credit card and ACH, manual and automatic recurring payments, and custom reports with Gateway EDI’s web-based health care transaction processing and sophisticated new technology that flags rejected claims. Through one interfaced portal, Gateway EDI users will be able to check third party eligibility, process co-pays, submit patient claims, manage claim status, receive insurance payments and then process the resulting private pay balances! The partners plan on working with Gateway EDI’s impressive list of vendor partners to arrange full integration into practice management systems as well.

“Recent shifts in health care payments from third parties to increasing patient responsibility has created the need for more robust, integrated and sophisticated payment processing tools in the health care practices we serve,” explains Jim Bettendorf, Gateway EDI’s Director of Compliance and Business Development. “This means that the health care industry has to be prepared for enhanced payment processing options and that patients will need the added flexibility of a host of payment options.”

Users of the new system will benefit from the involvement of both partners; Gateway EDI is providing the portal that drives the system and TRANSFIRST Health Services is providing a preferred pricing plan, implementation, training and on-going specialized expert health care service for the custom product.

Christy Corey, President for TRANSFIRST’s Health Services division explains, “This new partnering is really two very dedicated health care service organizations working together to help provider practices successfully address the marketplace changes occurring in their industry. Currently, most health care practices have stand-alone tools to manage varying tasks in their practice. As a greater emphasis is established in the handling of private pay collections, too many separate manual processes, products and vendors will create inefficiency and eventually failure. The capability created by the partnership with Gateway EDI and TRANSFIRST introduces a more robust and integrated payments solution for a provider’s practice and eliminates redundant processes and the need for multiple payment products.”

About Gateway EDI
As one of the nation’s fasting growing health care EDI providers, Gateway EDI offers simple solution to complex business electronic connectivity challenges. From standard claims processing and status reports to sophisticated new technology including flagging rejecting claims -all through HIPAA compliant solutions-Gateway EDI boasts unusually high performance standards; routinely 98 % of all customer service calls are answered in person with a 92% instant resolution. For the fourth consecutive year, the St Louis Business Journal named Gateway EDI, a privately held company, one of the region’s 20 fastest-growing companies in 2004. Gateway received full accreditation by the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC), endorsing the company's reputation for excellence in industry standards and best practices. For more information, contact Michelle Llewellyn at 800-969.3666 x 1201 or via email at mllewellyn@gatewayedi.com.

About TRANSFIRST
A premier provider of transaction processing services and payment enabling technologies, TRANSFIRST offers a first-rate suite of products and services and customized processing programs uniquely tailored for the special business needs of financial institutions, independent sales organizations and agents and its referral and reseller partners. Through its in-depth industry knowledge, partnership strategy and innovative solutions, TRANSFIRST provides a specialized approach to transaction processing for healthcare providers, public entities, online and other non-traditional merchants, as well as brick and mortar retailers. Founded in 1995, TRANSFIRST is a market leader in strategic mergers and acquisitions, which has allowed the company to gain significant market share and world-class expertise in growing and profitable industry segments. Built on a platform of personal service, customer commitment and flexible pricing, TRANSFIRST is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has operations facilities in Louisville, Colo., Omaha, Neb., Kansas City, Kan., Newport Beach, Calif., Milwaukee, Wis. and Langhorne, Penn. Company wide, TRANSFIRST currently processes approximately $22 billion in annual sales volume for more than 160,000 merchants and more than 965 financial institutions. TRANSFIRST can be reached at 1-800-745-2659 or at www.TRANSFIRST.com.