Healthcare providers need to prepare for credit-card issuers’ switch from magnetic-strip-based cards to microchip-based cards, mostly as part of the drive to cut down on security lapses. Obviously this will cost the providers some money, but nothing too serious.Karen Cox, vice president for payments and retail solutions for Moneris Solutions, a Toronto-based provider of financial-processing systems, told Modern Healthcare’s Joseph Conn.“After October, if someone (a fraudster) with a chip card would hit a chip terminal, the merchant is protected from charge back,” by the card issuer.However, she told Mr. Conn, if, say, a hospital or medical practice were still using an older magnetic strip reader, it would face liability for charge-backs.A big plus in the change will be that presages very wide use of chip technology that will make the collection and use of medical data safer and easier.Mr. Conn also noted:”Hopes for using smart-card technology in healthcare have risen and fallen several times over the past decade. Last month, the Government Accountability Office recommended that Medicare ought to consider issuing smart cards to beneficiaries to speed patient identification and eligibility verification.”