In a dynamic regulatory landscape where risk, reputation, and compliance increasingly determine access to financial services, healthcare businesses face a unique challenge. A recent webinar hosted by LegitScript — featuring Rob Bast, chief sales officer at Corepay, and Angela Salter, director of sales and partnerships at LegitScript — laid out exactly why certification is becoming not just an asset but a necessity in 2025.
Keep reading to get the top takeaways, then watch the webinar.
June 27, 2025 | by LegitScript Folks
Understanding the Payments Ecosystem
The payments ecosystem is a complex network of connected entities that must collaborate in order to get a payment from the buyer to the seller. It’s helpful to know the key players to better understand how the industry operates. In short:
- Merchants sell goods or services.
- Customers pay for goods or services via credit/debit cards.
- Payment gateways securely transmit data between merchants, acquirers, and processors.
- Payment processors link gateways with acquirers, issuers, and merchants.
- Acquiring banks are licensed with the card networks (these vary by tiers based on risk allowance) in order to provide merchant services.
- Independent sales organizations like Corepay register with the card networks to underwrite and support merchants on behalf of acquiring banks.
- Issuing banks like (such as Capital One) provide customers credit and debit cards.
- Card networks (such as Visa, Mastercard) set the rules and oversee the system.
Each entity has a role in protecting against fraud and ensuring secure, compliant transactions—especially critical for businesses in regulated industries like healthcare.
Risk and Regulation: Why It’s Getting Stricter
Healthcare is one of the most highly regulated sectors, with oversight from agencies including the FDA, DEA, FTC, and numerous state medical boards. Add to that the regulatory frameworks imposed by card networks, and the risk landscape quickly becomes daunting.
The bottom line? Noncompliance isn't just a legal risk: it can result in fines, lost revenue, payment shutdowns, and even blacklisting (via programs like Visa’s MATCH list).
Acquirers are under pressure too. According to Rob Bast, Visa's Advanced Monitoring Program (VAMP) mandates acquirer fraud ratios to be below 0.5% this year, dropping to 0.3% in 2026. This means tighter underwriting standards and more rigorous scrutiny of all high-risk merchants, including healthcare, telemedicine, and med spas.
LegitScript Certification: a Payments “Passport”
LegitScript Certification is often referred to as a “passport” into the financial and digital advertising ecosystems. It verifies that your business complies with applicable laws, industry standards, and best practices. It’s especially vital in areas like telehealth, online pharmacies, med spas, and addiction treatment facilities.
It’s recognized by major platforms including Google, Microsoft, TikTok, Meta, Visa, and others. Certification opens doors to advertising and payment processing that would otherwise remain closed to high-risk merchants.
Why Healthcare Businesses Should Get Certified
Healthcare businesses face dual pressure: growing competition and increasingly strict regulatory scrutiny. Here’s how LegitScript helps:
- Faster access to ad platforms: Healthcare businesses in the U.S. and other countries that get LegitScript-certified meet a key eligibility requirement to advertise on major online platforms like Google.
- Improved credibility: Certification signals to consumers and partners that your business is legitimate and trustworthy, which is increasingly important in competitive industries like telehealth and med spas.
- Easier onboarding with payment processors: Certified businesses are often onboarded faster and face fewer disruptions.
- Support during regulatory changes: As laws shift, LegitScript helps merchants stay compliant, which is vital in fast-changing spaces like telehealth and compounded medications.
Why Payments Companies Should Integrate LegitScript
For payment service providers, the rise of high-risk verticals like healthcare, legal CBD, and online pharmaceuticals presents both an opportunity and a risk. LegitScript helps manage that risk by offering:
- Faster, more reliable underwriting: Certified merchants have already been vetted, reducing due diligence time.
- Lower portfolio risk: LegitScript-certified clients are more likely to comply with card brand rules.
- Enterprise tools for scalability: Partners can benefit from expedited certifications, dedicated account support, and ongoing monitoring tools.
As Rob Bast of Corepay put it, “In high-risk verticals, LegitScript isn’t optional — it’s your license to operate.”
Take the Next Step
In 2025 and beyond, LegitScript Certification is a strategic and increasingly necessary tool for high-risk companies and their partners. For healthcare businesses looking to grow responsibly and for payment companies managing risk, it provides the compliance infrastructure to move with confidence.
Want to learn more?
- For healthcare businesses: Read more about Healthcare Certification or start your application.
- For payment service providers: Read more about our Healthcare Certification for Payment Providers or contact us to learn more about what a partnership would look like.
The full webinar recording is available on-demand.
