ISO Telehealth Payment Referral Checklist

Can an ISO prepare a useful brief without patient records?

Yes. An initial referral can describe the business and the proposed payment flow without showing a patient's history, diagnosis, prescription or identifiable invoice. The purpose is to establish what kind of opportunity needs review and which questions remain unanswered, not to recreate a clinical file.

HHS's telehealth privacy guidance emphasizes protecting patient information. MerchantBridge recommends a business-level initial inquiry: the payment question can usually be described without a clinical file. The brief below is an original referral tool, not an HHS checklist or a determination of the clinic's privacy obligations.

Sources: HHS: Privacy and security for telehealth

Which entities should appear in the brief?

Ask for the legal business intended to apply for processing and the customer-facing brand. Separately identify who provides the professional service, who operates the platform and whether another business handles dispensing or fulfillment. Do not assume that a polished telehealth website identifies the entity responsible for every part of the transaction.

The ISO does not need to solve an ownership or contracting question to record it accurately. If the merchant has not established which entity should collect a particular charge, list that as unresolved and ask the merchant to confirm it with appropriate advisers. A referral summary should make the uncertainty visible instead of assigning responsibility by guesswork.

How do you describe the payment without a patient example?

Use a fictional transaction with no real personal details. For instance: a customer pays a consultation charge to the clinic; any separately supplied product is billed by the responsible seller, not folded into an unexplained clinic charge. Specify whether this is the current model or a proposal, and ask the business to confirm the responsibilities.

Explain when payment is authorized or collected, what the customer is told about the charge and which business handles cancellation and support. Distinguish a consultation fee from a membership, a product purchase or a prepaid service bundle. These facts give a potential partner a clearer starting point than a broad label such as healthcare technology.

• Business identity: proposed applicant, public brand and website.
• Service description: what the customer purchases, without clinical detail.
• Payment sequence: who charges, when, for what and whether billing repeats.
• Markets: where the business operates and the customer locations it intends to serve.
• Operations: support, cancellation, fulfillment and the person who can answer questions.
• Unknowns: items needing merchant, professional or partner confirmation.

What does a completed business-level brief look like?

Here is a fictional example an ISO could adapt. It is not a MerchantBridge client or a finding that the arrangement qualifies for processing. Replace the illustrative details with the merchant's confirmed facts and leave unknown items explicitly open.

• Applicant: Example Clinic LLC, a US clinic operating under its own public brand; website and business contact available for review.
• Service and markets: remote consultations in the states identified by the clinic; the clinic will supply its current service-area and licensing information separately.
• Charge: an illustrative $95 one-time consultation fee, collected at booking; no membership or medication charge included in this request.
• Responsibility: the clinic handles appointment cancellations and refunds; a separate pharmacy bills any separately dispensed product.
• Processing objective: review card-not-present acceptance for consultation fees; the ISO's current channel does not support this service model.
• Open question: can an available partner consider the proposed booking-to-payment sequence, and what business evidence would it need?

What if the clinic offers several services?

Ask for a short list of the service lines that will use the proposed payment arrangement. A clinic selling consultations, memberships and retail skincare should not describe every charge as the same transaction. Record whether those activities share a checkout or use separate arrangements, and avoid assuming one review covers all of them.

If a new service is only planned, label it planned and keep its forecast separate from current activity. The ISO can then ask whether it should be included in the initial discussion or examined separately. This prevents an introduction based on an incomplete picture without turning the first conversation into a demand for every operational document.

What belongs outside the initial inquiry?

Do not paste patient records, credentials, payment-card numbers or identifiable screenshots into the ISO contact form. A redacted-looking file can still reveal a name or other information in an attachment title, a hidden page or document metadata. A fictional example is usually sufficient to describe the billing sequence at this stage.

If a potential partner later requests supporting material, clarify the purpose, authorized recipient and secure channel first. Ask the merchant for the relevant business evidence and resolve any request involving patient information through its appropriate privacy process. Do not forward a clinical record merely because it was offered.

How can MerchantBridge help with this referral?

Bring the question your present channels cannot answer: a proposed billing model, a particular service mix or a clinic needing other processing options. MerchantBridge can explore relevant acquiring-bank, full-risk ISO and international acquiring relationships using that business profile. Include your role and whether you want to coordinate the introduction.

The next step is to establish which available channels can consider the opportunity and what further facts they need. Geographic support, billing capabilities and referral terms require confirmation for the actual clinic. You can begin that discussion with the brief above; no patient records are needed in the first inquiry.