How Airwallex can boost financial well-being for the private healthcare and medical services industries

Private medical businesses like GP clinics, diagnostic and imaging centres, allied health practices, pharmacies, biotech and medical supply companies are major players in the Australian healthcare market, each delivering critical services.

Strict regulatory controls, an extensive web of stakeholders and specialised business models make healthcare somewhat more complex than other industries. That said, most private operators battle with the same sorts of challenges that affect small to medium-sized enterprises everywhere. These include combatting rising business costs, aligning product and service offerings with market demands, and meeting the continual need for enhanced operational efficiencies. 

Airwallex's innovative financial tech solutions can be used to help solve these issues by allowing medical services businesses to cut costs, reduce admin and better adapt their financial operations to meet business goals in the modern healthcare market. Here’s how.

Taking a pulse check on the medical services industry

Yearly spending on medical services in Australia has risen to over $200 billion a year, with “healthcare and social assistance” workers forming the biggest group of the nation’s employees. 

With so much activity moving through the industry, there’s bound to be operational hiccups. Private health businesses juggle dozens of daily admin and accounting tasks that can detract from the primary focus of providing quality healthcare products and services. 

Industry pain points

Accounts payable inefficiencies

The need to maintain a smooth supply chain in healthcare can’t be overstated. The pandemic is an example that made the consequences of scarce medical supplies and pharmaceuticals all too obvious. Unfortunately, guaranteeing the consistent availability of goods and services for your medical practice, especially when dealing with numerous suppliers, can be an overwhelming and complex task. 

Paperwork, manual reconciliation, and multiple banking interfaces can lead to delays and disruptions that put you and your patients at risk. What’s more, they eat into valuable time that could be spent on customer care or business development. 

Managing expenses from multiple sites and sources

Managing expenses can be particularly challenging for businesses with multiple sites or operations and a distributed or highly mobile workforce. Pharmacy chains, multi-site imaging and diagnostic businesses and medical device or drug companies with travelling sales teams are prime examples of these.

Traditional approaches often lead to a tangled web of receipts, expense claims, and reimbursements, which is complicated further when petty cash comes into play. What’s more, the common practice of sharing a single corporate card without adequate checks on usage is inefficient and also opens businesses up to the risk of fraud.

Dealing with international costs and charges

One of COVID’s silver linings has been the incentive to build on Australia’s strong life sciences sector by scaling our local production of medical devices and pharmaceuticals. This way, we can better meet our own needs, while also opening up opportunities to share our products with the world through exports.

Healthcare businesses that operate internationally need a solid infrastructure for handling multiple currencies and cross-border payments. Unfortunately, conventional banking processes for these transactions are often slow and plagued by unfavourable exchange rates and fees. 

How can Airwallex solutions help?

Understanding these challenges is the starting point for developing strategies that help healthcare businesses focus on their core mission: exceptional patient and customer care.

Airwallex's targeted solutions can transform healthcare business operations for the better by automating accounts processes, managing payments and expenses more efficiently, staying on top of their cash flow and cutting costs to boost the bottom line.

Simplifying supplier payments

Smooth supplier payments are critical for medical businesses and Airwallex's Bill Pay consolidates the process into a single, intuitive platform. You can set up workflows with multi-layer approval, scan bills to instantly extract relevant data using OCR technology and integrate your account in a few clicks with leading accounting software programs like Xero and QuickBooks. 

Bill Pay lets you bypass manual data entry, reduce administrative burden and improve financial clarity, enabling on-time and efficient payments that keep the supply chain moving seamlessly.

Making expense management easy

Join other SMEs benefiting from a modern and efficient alternative to conventional corporate cards by choosing Airwallex’s Borderless Cards. Within minutes, your employees can have their own cards with appropriate controls and limits, giving you real-time insight into their spending.

Whether you’re buying office equipment or medical supplies, covering your reps’ travel expenses or making small everyday purchases, these physical or virtual cards can simplify expense management across the business, making expense tracking and reporting a breeze.

Facilitating payments beyond borders

Airwallex's Global Accounts and FX Transfers revolutionise multi-country transactions by offering businesses the ability to hold, manage and transfer funds in multiple currencies with ease.

For healthcare and medical businesses that export products or have a global footprint, these solutions provide an effective way to manage international payments. Lower-cost transactions and market-leading FX rates can enhance profitability and provide peace of mind by insulating the business from currency fluctuations. 

Transforming financial operations for the healthcare industry

Airwallex addresses the pain points facing small and medium-sized medical services businesses in Australia, seeking to make them more efficient and effective. Our innovation-driven approach also helps to future-proof operations to deal with the rapid changes and challenges the health sector invariably faces. 

Get started now by signing up for a free borderless Airwallex account.

Disclaimer: This information doesn’t take into account your objectives, financial situation, or needs. If you are a customer of Airwallex Pty Ltd (AFSL No. 487221) it is important for you to read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for the Direct Services, which is available here.