Vertical-First Payments: How Low-Code Wins in Education, Healthcare and Field Services

Embedded payments are gaining prominence across various industries to streamline operations and enhance user experiences. As software platforms evolve to serve specialized sectors, flexible integrations are unlocking new growth avenues for industries where operational fit and speed to market are essential. Low-code and no-code tools are making it easier for a wide range of industry platforms to deploy advanced payment features quickly—often without the need for specialized development resources.

• Education—Unlocking Efficiency for Institutions, Platforms and Students
• Healthcare—Supporting Secure, Patient-Centered Payments
• Professional and Field Services—Modernizing Money Movement for On-the-Go Professionals
• Building Seamless Payment Experiences Through Low-Code Innovation

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Education—Unlocking Efficiency for Institutions, Platforms and Students

Paying for education isn’t just expensive—it’s complicated. Multiple funding sources and siloed payment processes add complexity and lead to frustration for both students and schools.

Legacy manual payment systems cause friction.

From tuition to extracurricular activities, educational payments remain fragmented and filled with friction. In fact, TouchNet reports that 55% of college students in the United States juggle three or more funding sources for tuition. Legacy systems often separate enrollment, billing and payment into siloed tools—creating administrative burdens and poor user experiences. Another TouchNet finding shows that 34% of U.S. college students say the effort required to manage financial activities at their institutions is “very high.”

55%

Share of U.S. college students juggling three or more funding sources for tuition

The mobile-first generation of students strongly prefers digital, self-service tools for managing payments, such as web portals and mobile apps. Whereas financial stress is a leading cause of students leaving their institutions, positive financial interactions encourage continued enrollment. Roughly half of all students surveyed by TouchNet reported that financial interactions with their institutions had a positive impact on their academic success.

Low-code embedded payments offer speed and simplicity.

Platforms like Meadow illustrate how embedded payment tools can unify these fragmented experiences. Through Meadow Pay, the company offers payment plans, automated communications and self-service tools that ease administration and boost on-time collections. Powered by Finix’s low-code/no-code integrations, Meadow provides a mobile-first interface with secure, scalable transactions. Use of the platform resulted in a 47% increase in on-time payments and adoption across dozens of campuses.

Case studies like these demonstrate how embedding payments directly into higher education workflows can enhance financial predictability and provide smoother experiences for students, parents and administrators alike. Low-code options offer the advantage of rapid adoption and implementation.

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Healthcare—Supporting Secure, Patient-Centered Payments

Navigating fragmented, manual payment processes causes frustration for both healthcare providers and patients while adding cost and eroding the quality of care. Embedded payments through low-code integrations can bring instant simplicity and improve outcomes.

Legacy payment systems undercut provider cash flow.

$828M

Potential annual savings for medical/dental industries from adopting electronic claim payments

In healthcare, payment friction affects both patients and providers. Payment flows are complex and highly regulated, and healthcare administrators often must wrangle paper forms, pay-by-phone systems and manual processing just to complete a single patient payment. Hospitals and healthcare providers also face increased reimbursement hurdles, as government funding cuts, insurance preapproval delays and other policy changes create uncertainty. According to PYMNTS Intelligence, only 44% of healthcare treasurers report high cash flow predictability for their firms.

Healthcare consumers, especially younger patients, also face frustration from antiquated payment systems. Nearly four in 10 Gen Z consumers (38%) report that the payment process for their most recent service was moderately complex. That compares with fewer than one in 10 baby boomers (7%), who are perhaps more familiar with traditional paperwork.

Low-code embedded payments can help mitigate losses and foster trust.

Embedded payments in healthcare can provide an invisible infrastructure that makes financial processes feel native to care delivery. Low-code, configurable application programming interfaces (APIs) can integrate payment tools with existing healthcare systems, automating payouts and enabling instant patient onboarding for practices. This approach means faster cash flow, reduced back-office overhead, and trusted experiences for both providers and patients. According to the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH), the medical and dental industries could collectively save $828 million by adopting electronic claim payments.

For healthcare consumers, a more transparent and frictionless engagement with financial processes encourages more proactive involvement in their care, reduces over-utilization and increases adherence to care programs. Overall, 44% of consumers reported at least one issue when paying for their latest healthcare service, including nearly seven in 10 Gen Z patients (68%). A lack of transparency and other communication issues, such as unexpected payments and unclear billing statements, were the most frequently cited problems.

Payment processing solutions, such as those of Finix, enable healthcare providers to address consumer complaints regarding a lack of transparency, communication issues, unexpected payments and unclear billing statements. These solutions provide the infrastructure and tools for providers to improve their payment processes and offer a better, more transparent financial experience for patients.

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Professional and Field Services—Modernizing Money Movement for On-the-Go Professionals

Many professional contractors, from plumbers to roofers, still rely on paper invoices and checks, which slow down collections and hinder cash flow. However, field-service management platforms with embedded payment infrastructure are transforming the business.

Mobile-first services need mobile-first payment capability.

According to a recent Mastercard white paper, professional services are among the least efficient industries when it comes to easily reconciling payments. Notably, 91% of professional services businesses identify the lack of payment progress visibility as the top challenge in business-to-business (B2B) transactions. Paper checks and card readers slow down mobile-first field services, such as roofing, plumbing, electrical and landscaping services, thereby delaying revenue collection. Nearly four in 10 (37%) consumers prefer to use apps to pay for such services. In an era when consumers expect to pay by card or app, field service operations often still rely on manually inputting credit card information over the phone, either back at the office or when calling to collect payment.

91%

of professional services businesses cite the lack of payment progress visibility as the top challenge with B2B payments.

Waiting for customer payments can hinder a service business, especially when significant resources are invested in a project. Mobile point-of-sale (POS) systems, such as mobile phone card readers, can substantially accelerate the collection timeline. Instead of returning to the office to review completed jobs, compile multiple invoices and then send them to customers who may not pay immediately, contractors can request payment as soon as the job is completed.

Low- and no-code embedded payments boost customer service for field professionals.

Field service management platforms are changing the on-site service industry. An embedded payments infrastructure enables platforms to offer service providers branded invoicing and card-on-file capabilities—all without relying on third-party payment links. With low-code/no-code tools and automated onboarding, field service professionals can become payment-ready in minutes.

Meeting with the customer before or after the job is complete gives a contractor more one-on-one time with the client. The customer also benefits from knowing that their data can be easily located. If they call the service with a question about a project, office staff can quickly find the records and provide an answer. Combined with real-time reporting, automated reconciliation and customizable fee structures, this level of integration enables platforms to stand out in a crowded market—while allowing service professionals to get paid faster and more reliably.

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Building Seamless Payment Experiences Through Low-Code Innovation

Service platforms in high-trust verticals such as education, healthcare and professional services need more than just basic payment capabilities; they require infrastructure that aligns with their operations and customer expectations. By embracing embedded solutions—configurable through low-code and no-code approaches—these sectors can deliver seamless experiences, accelerate cash flow and strengthen trust where it matters most: at the point of interaction.

PYMNTS Intelligence offers the following actionable roadmap for platforms seeking to modernize payments with embedded, low-code solutions:

• Prioritize mobile. Consumers today expect to pay for things using their phones, and service providers need to be there.
• Keep it simple. Reducing payment friction reduces workloads for both customers and providers, adding value to each.
• Stay out of the back office. Moving back-office functions like invoicing and collections upfront leads to better customer experiences and better financial management.
• Use payments as a competitive advantage. Delivering transparent, secure and intuitive payment experiences fosters trust and loyalty, enabling platforms to differentiate themselves in crowded markets.

By integrating low-code embedded payment technology into the core of their platforms, businesses can transform transactions from mere afterthoughts into strategic assets, creating value for users and unlocking new growth opportunities.

Low-code embedded payments are transforming how vertical software platforms serve their users. By removing technical barriers, we’re enabling innovators in education, healthcare and field services to bring seamless, secure payment experiences to market faster.”

Sid Masso
Head of Direct Merchant Sales, Finix

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