Intuit thinks doctors are a bad risk.
Friday, May 29th, 2009Intuit thinks that medical practices are high risk for non-payment of credit card debt. Following is my encounter with Intuit, in which I try to set up a merchant account so my company can accept credit cards from our clients–medical practices.
My company, ExtraMD, is a “local” locums–there are several physicians in our group, we live in the Denver area, and we fill in at medical practices through out the area. Our business model is simple, but effective: we act as subcontractors to the practices that use us to fill in. Practices email or call our trusty assistant with shift requests, we fill the shifts, and the practice gets invoiced, and ExtraMD gets paid.
Pretty simple, huh? Well, not according to Intuit. We are in the process of converting to a credit card model to make invoicing and payment easier. We are asking our clients to let us invoice their credit cards. They have all agreed, and I, as the president, was in charge of finding a merchant account that would be affordable.
I looked at several, and settled on Intuit, partly because it would mesh with QuickBooks, our accounting software. I filled out the application, and waited. And then waited some more. They sent an email requesting more information. I complied instantly, and waited. And waited. They emailed me again, saying they needed more information (which was actually included in the FIRST email I sent.) This time I called, and reviewed the account with the nice Intuit customer service agent. They would process my request, they promised.
Two weeks went by. Nothing, not a peep, no email, no phone call, zippo!
I called back. “I’m sorry,” said Intuit lady, “but medical practices and medical practice staffing are just too high risk. We are worried we won’t get paid, due to the risk.”
“What?!” I asked. “I’ve been in business for 5 years, and our time in AR is probably one of the shortest in the business world!”
“Well, you are a service industry, and medical staffing is too risky.”
I asked to speak to a supervisor, which she wouldn’t let me do. I sputtered along for a few more sentences and then finally hung up.
The take home: Intuit considers medical practices high risk for non-payment, or late payment. That’s you, my friend–hard working physician and practice owner. This is the cold reality–and so much for loosening up credit with bank bail outs!
Needless to say, we won’t be using Intuit. If you have a vendor for a merchant account that you recommend, please feel free to comment. I’m still looking!