Waystar Plans to Take Healthcare Payments Company Public

Healthcare payments firm Waystar Technologies is ready to become a public company.

Waystar announced Thursday (Aug. 24) that parent company Waystar Holdings had confidentially submitted a draft registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for proposed initial public offering (IPO).

“The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined,” the company said in a news release. 

“Waystar expects to use the proceeds of the offering for general corporate purposes, which may include the repayment of indebtedness,” the company added. “The initial public offering is subject to market and other conditions and will only occur after the SEC completes its review process.”

The announcement comes as a number of companies are embarking on IPOs after a long dry spell in that area. 

A report Thursday by Reuters — citing data from Dealogic — said $10.3 billion has been raised via 77 IPOs so far this year, almost double the amount realized in the same period in 2022.

The same report quotes sources familiar with the matter who said Waystar was in talks with banks for an IPO that could value the company at as much as $8 billion, including debt.

Earlier this month, Waystar acquired HealthPay24 to add a complementary patient financial engagement solution to its payments platform.

“The patient financial experience should be frictionless, so patients can seek the care they need and providers can get paid for their services,” Waystar CEO Matt Hawkins said in a news release at the time. “Research shows that 63% of patients will switch providers if their financial experience does not align with their expectations.”

Elsewhere in the healthcare payment world, PYMNTS spoke Thursday with Brad Garfield, managing director and head of healthcare solutions at J.P. Morgan Commercial Banking, about the inertia in that sector.

“You’d be surprised how many healthcare providers in the country still don’t even have a website for accepting online patient payments, and that you have to call an office to speak to someone to process a credit card transaction,” Garfield told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster.

“Looking at the end-to-end patient experience, there’s so much opportunity for improvement,” Garfield said. 

Outdated healthcare processes, he added, not only create inconvenience, they also slow the payment process, thanks to long-standing, fragmented billing systems.

But improving the patient experience means more digitizing payments, said Garfield. Scheduling and check-in can also be upgraded to provide better estimates, collect payment information in advance and offer payment plans.