The Two-Minute Rule

It wasn't planned.

The first time it happened, we thought it was "cool”. A fun anecdote we would share in the next company meeting. A new customer went live on PatientPay, and within 90 seconds, a patient paid their bill. We celebrated, high-fived, and moved on.

Then it happened again. Two minutes after go-live. Then again at 57 seconds (the current record). Then 104 seconds. Then 68 seconds.

We started watching for it. Every implementation, without fail, the first payment came through within two minutes of flipping the switch. The patter becomes pretty hard to ignore when it happens every time across hundreds of implementations.

So we coined it: The Two-Minute Rule.

"You're Going to Think We're Making This Up"

That's what we started telling prospects during sales presentations and customers during onboarding.

"Watch your dashboard closely when we go live. You'll see your first payment within two minutes. We know it sounds too good to be true but set a timer. It's going to happen."

The reactions were always the same. Polite skepticism. A knowing smile. The "sure, buddy" nod that says they've heard vendor promises before.

And then it happens.

57 seconds after go-live, the notification pops. First payment received.

The disbelief turns to shock. Shock turns to excitement. And we get the message: "Wow! You weren't kidding."

No. We weren't.

If you dissect what happened in those 57 seconds, it’s the epitome of why we’re unique. Bill sent digitally. Patient trust established. Login simplified. Bill clarified. Payment type entered. Payment is executed. All these steps are likely triggered by the first electronic bill they’ve ever received from this provider.

Real Results: Encore’s First-Day Success

The Two-Minute Rule isn't just an internal observation; our customers witness it firsthand. Jonathan Henderson, Executive Vice President at Encore Rehabilitation, shared his team’s initial skepticism. Would patients actually embrace a digital solution, even older ones? Those doubts vanished almost immediately when Encore went live with PatientPay. Within just three hours, they collected more than $48,000 in patient payments, with the very first payment coming in within moments of launch.

Jonathan told us...

“Any doubts we had as to whether or not our patients would adopt the PatientPay solution vanished almost instantly. On the very day Encore Rehab went live with PatientPay, skepticism gave way to astonishment: in just three hours, over $48,000 in payments came in. Even the most hesitant observers were convinced. Older patients, once assumed to be the most resistant, even readily adopted text and email payments.”

This Encore story is not an outlier; it is proof that when you combine design, support, and trust, immediate results follow.

Read the full Encore Success Story

Why It Matters

Healthcare billing is broken by default. Providers wait weeks for payments. Manual posting buries staff in reconciliation work. Cash flow crawls when it should sprint.

The industry has accepted this as normal. "Payments take time." "Processing requires review." "It's just how it works."

Except it's not how it has to work.

At PatientPay, "We help you get paid faster" isn't just a tagline. It's not a marketing slogan we workshopped in a conference room. It's simply what we deliver for our customers. Every. Single. Time.

The Two-Minute Rule is a pattern, and it's not a conincidence.

It's Not Magic. It's Design.

Fast payments don't happen by accident. They happen because we built a system that prioritizes speed without sacrificing accuracy:

• Mobile-first experience that meets patients where they are

• Frictionless patient/guarantor login without sacrificing security

• Instant payment processing with real-time posting

• Transparent statements that make paying simple and fast

• Automated workflows that eliminate manual bottlenecks

When you remove friction from the payment process, patients pay immediately. When you automate reconciliation, cash posts instantly. When you design for speed from the ground up, you don't wait weeks for results. You wait seconds.

The Fun Part

The best part of my job? Watching it happen live with new customers.

We'll be on a go-live call, systems are green, we flip the switch, and I'll say, "Okay, keep your eyes on the dashboard."

Silence. Anticipation. Someone inevitably asks, "How long does it usually..."

Ding!

First payment. 73 seconds.

Someone laughs. Someone gasps. Someone says, "Wait, that just happened?"

Yeah. It just happened. And it'll happen tomorrow. And next week. This is our customer's new reality.

Why This Matters to You

If you're a billing manager, RCM director, practice administrator, or CFO tired of waiting for cash flow, here's what the Two-Minute Rule means:

Day one revenue. Not week six revenue. Not "processing" revenue. Actual, posted, reconciled revenue from the moment you go live.

Proof, not promises. We're not asking you to trust a sales deck. We're showing you a track record we've repeated so many times we named it.

A partner who delivers. You've been burned by vendors who overpromise and underdeliver. We get it. That's why we don't just promise fast payments. We put a timer on it.

Every. Single. Time.

The Two-Minute Rule started as an observation. It became a standard. Now it's a promise.

When we onboard you, we'll tell you to watch for it. You'll probably be skeptical. That's okay. We're used to it.

But when that first payment hits at 57 seconds, 104 seconds, or anywhere in between, you'll know exactly what we meant.

Fast payments aren't a nice-to-have in healthcare. They're a necessity. And at PatientPay, they're not a promise for "someday."

They're a reality in two minutes or less.

Ready to see it for yourself? Schedule a demo then watch the Two-Minute Rule play out live during your implementation. We'll bring the timer.

About the Author: Pete Heydt is President of PatientPay, where he leads the company's mission to help healthcare providers get paid faster through digital-first payment solutions. He's watched the Two-Minute Rule happen more times than he can count, and it still makes him smile every time.