Westpac boosting its presence in the healthcare sector through HealthPoint acquisition

Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX: WBC) is expanding its presence in the healthcare sector through the acquisition of electronic health claims processing business HealthPoint.

The move is aimed at bolstering Westpac’s payments offering for GPs, physiotherapists and other healthcare professional customers to provide on-the-spot e-health claiming for their patients.

HealthPoint provides real-time private health claiming services to businesses through their EFTPOS terminals at point of sale, connecting healthcare providers, consumers and financial institutions.

The commercial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed but Westpac says it plans to integrate HealthPoint’s e-claiming solution into its existing merchant offering.

Westpac’s chief executive of business and wealth Anthony Miller says this is part of the bank’s commitment ‘to better support business customers with their end-to-end banking needs’.

“We will also invest to build a leading customer experience for private health funds which use e-health claiming,” Miller says.

“Healthcare is a vital industry and a strategic focus for Westpac,” Miller says.

“It contributes around 10 per cent to Australia’s economic activity and this is likely to grow in coming years.”

Once the acquisition is finalised, HealthPoint will operate as a subsidiary of Westpac which would continue to provide services to HealthPoint’s existing partners.

The acquisition is subject to approval by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Westpac has taken a bigger interest in the healthcare sector over the past decade with the establishment of a specialist healthcare team to support businesses within the sector.