The National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price is one to watch after announcing an acquisition for its health segment.
A segment of NAB, called NAB Health, is a group of businesses that are dedicated to health banking and finance solutions for healthcare professionals and businesses.
HICAPS is one of the businesses in NAB Health and provides electronic claim and payment solutions for the healthcare sector including Medicare, Worksafe (VIC), the Insurance Commission of WA and health service providers.
NAB acquires digital health claim platform LanternPay
NAB announced that its subsidiary HICAPS Pty Ltd has entered into an agreement with InLoop to acquire 100% of the shares in Lantern Claims Pty Ltd, which operates digital health claiming technology business LanternPay.
LanternPay is a digital claim payments platform for the healthcare, disability, insurance and aged care sectors. It is purpose built to standardise the claims and payment process for providers, including government, private health insurers, Medicare and the NDIS.
The acquisition is subject to customary conditions and approvals. NAB said once the transaction is complete, LanternPay will be integrated into HICAPS and the technology rolled out through 2022.
NAB’s digitising strategy
The company said that this is part of its strategy to digitise banking for Australians. The deal is expected to enhance the HICAPS payment process, increase payment options at healthcare providers, save time and simplify administration.
Management said that simplifying payments for the growing healthcare sector would be a huge step forward for everyone.
Management comments
Andrew Irvine, the NAB Group Executive for the Business and Private Bank, said: “The healthcare sector is already one of the country’s largest providers of employment and the fifth largest contributor to Australia’s GDP. Australian healthcare payment systems have been cumbersome – resulting in disjointed payment experiences”.
“Integrating NAB’s HICAPS with LanternPay technology will over time deliver a seamless digital customer experience – with real time approvals and faster payments”.
“Customers who previously might have waited days for a reimbursement from the NDIS for example, will now receive this payment on the spot. For many Australians, this will be an absolute game changer.”
Final thoughts on the NAB share price
I think this is a good move by NAB and further expands away from its traditional banking model. However its loan portion of the business is so large, that this is a very small move in comparison.
The NAB share price is up around 1% today, its hard to say if this announcement has any impact on the share price considering it is a small segment of the business.
