Questions

1. What is STP?

2. What does CSG Forte’s collaboration with Optum Financial involve?

3. Who benefits from STP?

4. How does enrollment work?

5. How long does activation take after enrollment?

6. Will payments go to an existing account, or must bank details be updated?

7. Is it possible to choose between ACH payments and virtual card payment?

8. Can multiple doctors under the same TIN enroll separately for STP?

9. What occurs if a payment is rejected by the bank?

10. What resources are available?

11. Do providers need to be PCI compliant for STP?

12. What is the "Optum Transaction ID" and how is it used?

13.  What will appear as the funding descriptor on the bank statement for STP deposits/funding?

14. How should fraud or suspicious activity related to STP be reported?

15. Is international access supported?

Straight Through Processing (STP) is a system designed to expedite insurance remittance delivery to healthcare providers. By utilizing virtual card processing, STP enables receipt of payments within one business day, significantly reducing the traditional 60–90 day wait associated with physically mailed letters containing virtual card information and manual input of VCC information to receive remittances. This approach enhances cash flow and mitigates fraud risk.

STP supports both C2B (from patients via insurance companies) and B2B (from insurance companies) payments to healthcare providers, through CSG Forte’s processing of virtual cards issued by Optum Financial with remittance amounts (credit card enablement is required for STP, since Optum issues MasterCard virtual cards for remittance payments.):

•  Business-to-Business (B2B): Insurance companies remit payments to healthcare providers.

• Consumer-to-Business (C2B): Patients make payments to healthcare providers through their insurance company (e.g., using an HSA card that is managed by their insurance company).

Note: STP does not change how patients or insurers make payments. Patients will continue to pay through their health plan, HSA portal, or bill-pay system, while insurers will initiate claim payments. Providers do not create or send payments.

CSG Forte’s collaboration with Optum Financial involves strategic collaboration to accelerate payment delivery to healthcare providers. By connecting Optum Financial to CSG Forte’s infrastructure, virtual card transactions can be processed with insurance and patient (via insurers) payments deposited directly into healthcare providers’ bank accounts.

Healthcare providers gain faster access to funds through virtual card payments processing, improving cash flow, and reducing the administrative burden associated with manual check processing. In addition, an enhanced payment security.

Providers initiate enrollment by completing an online application form via Dex. Upon submission, the system automatically performs a verification process to ensure that all required criteria are met, granting approval. Following this, the necessary configurations are applied, and customer confirmation is received.

Note: Visit CSG Forte STP website (Optum Financial | CSG Forte Partner) for more information.

Payments will be processed as per the standard credit card funding cycle for your account, which typically takes 2 business days. Activation time is also subject to the same 2-business-day timeframe.

The merchant will indicate their bank account details on the sign-up form during the enrollment process. No further updates are required unless explicitly specified by the merchant.

Note: To streamline the process and ensure greater efficiency, it is recommended to maintain a single STP account whenever possible.

No, payments will be processed exclusively via virtual credit card processing. ACH is not an option with STP, since CSG Forte will process those virtual cards and deposit the funds into the providers' bank accounts.

No, only one account (MID) per TIN is permitted to receive payments through STP. Separate enrollments for multiple doctors/entities under a single TIN are not allowed.

This scenario is not applicable under the current STP payment process.

Resources have been developed for reference such as the following ones: 

1. Invoicing Billing Guide: Invoices are emailed between the 5th and 6th of each month and are auto-debited on the 10th.
2. Payments Reconciliation: To reconcile, go to the Funding Module in Dex and use the filters to search for the deposit by amount or date. Once found, click the three dots to view related transactions, which will redirect you to the transaction data grid showing all transactions that make up the deposit.
3. Standard Reports materials.

It is recommended that you review this information once enrolled. 

Providers do not need to be PCI compliant to enroll in and use STP, as Optum issues one-time use virtual cards for remittance payments, and providers are not collecting or storing card data. However, if a provider is processing credit card transactions through CSG Forte for non-STP-related services, PCI compliance may apply.

Note: The US$29.99 non-compliance fee will not be charged to STP-only merchants, and the notice can be disregarded as it applies only to merchants with credit card services on their accounts. 

The Optum Transaction ID helps healthcare providers to map individual transactions to remittances they expect to receive for services delivered. In Dex, the Optum Transaction ID is displayed in the “Order Info” column and serves as the identifier used by Optum in their systems and portals. This allows providers to match transactions in Dex with the corresponding entries in Optum’s portal. Every STP transaction will display two IDs:

1. CSG Forte Transaction ID – used to locate transactions on CSG Forte’s Dex platform.
2. Optum Transaction ID – used to locate transactions on Optum’s platform.

For STP deposits/funding, the funding descriptor on the bank statement will display as *4TE DBA [name].

Any suspected fraud or unusual activity should be reported immediately by contacting our customer support team at 866-290-5400, Option 1.

No. Currently, STP is available for U.S.-based healthcare providers only.