First Data Certified to Process Healthcare Transactions on the Discover Network

Electronic commerce and payments leader First Data Corp. has announced that its healthcare services unit has been certified by Discover Financial Services to process general acceptance healthcare transactions on the Discover Network.

By providing certification to First Data Healthcare Services, Discover Network expects to broaden the agreement for future testing and certification of additional processing functionality, which will further enhance the consumer’s experience when using a Discover Network employee benefit card to access qualified tax advantaged healthcare, dependant care, and transit accounts.

“Discover has been an important business partner with First Data for many years, and we are very excited to reach this milestone achievement,” said Beverly Kennedy, president, First Data Healthcare Services. “With the addition of Discover, First Data can now support healthcare card processing on each of the major networks.”

“Supporting financial transactions in the consumer directed healthcare arena is an important initiative for Discover Network,” said Joe Hurley, vice president of Discover Network Strategic Development for Discover Financial Services. “This certification underscores our efforts to bring the most advanced, inventive solutions to market.”

First Data will begin processing healthcare transactions for Discover Network by 2007.