Why Did Mentom Payments Choose LegitScript to Help Their Merchants Navigate Certification?
For healthcare businesses, growth can move faster than compliance—and payment processing can quickly become the bottleneck. In this interview, Alexis Lichterman, Senior Vice President of Sales at Mentom Payments, explores how their partnership with LegitScript helps healthcare merchants navigate certification, accelerate payment approval, reduce friction, and build compliant businesses positioned to process, advertise, scale, and succeed.
About Mentom Payments
Mentom Payments is a modern payment processing company built to make accepting payments simpler, faster, and more transparent for businesses of all sizes. We combine flexible payment technology with hands-on support and deep industry expertise to create solutions tailored to each merchant’s unique needs. From traditional businesses to complex and highly regulated industries, Mentom helps merchants navigate processing, compliance, and growth without unnecessary roadblocks. Our approach is straightforward: do things the right way, move quickly where it matters, and provide the responsive, human support businesses deserve.
"LegitScript Certification isn’t just another cost of getting approved; it’s an investment in building a compliant, sustainable business."
Alexis Lichterman, Senior Vice President, Sales at Mentom Payments
Q&A With Alexis Lichterman
In the following Q&A, Alexis Lichterman, Senior Vice President of Sales at Mentom Payments, explains why they selected LegitScript Enterprise Partnership to help healthcare merchants with their certification process.
When a high-risk healthcare merchant first comes to Mentom, what's usually standing between them and getting approved to process and advertise?
With the boom in telemedicine—particularly in the weight loss medication space—we’ve seen a wave of talented entrepreneurs enter healthcare without the traditional experience of a doctor’s office or established medical group.
These are incredible businesspeople and marketers who know how to build brands, acquire customers, and scale quickly. But healthcare comes with a steep compliance curve, and many entrepreneurs simply haven’t had to navigate this level of regulation in other industries.
As a result, payment processing can become an afterthought.
When these merchants come to us, they’re often expecting a quick approval—only to be met with the question: “Where is your LegitScript Certification?”
That opens the door for an important conversation. We educate merchants not only on why certification is required, but also on the value it brings to their business. LegitScript Certification helps demonstrate that they’ve taken the necessary steps to operate responsibly and compliantly in a highly regulated space.
So, what often stands between these businesses and their ability to begin processing payments? Time.
LegitScript’s Certification process is thorough and in-depth—and that’s not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a great thing. That level of diligence means that when a merchant becomes certified, they’ve gone through a meaningful process designed to help ensure they’re operating as compliantly as possible.
But thoroughness takes time—and for fast-moving entrepreneurs trying to launch and scale their businesses, time matters.
Healthcare merchants often treat "getting approved to process payments" and "getting compliant" as two separate problems handled by two separate vendors. How does Mentom's referral partnership with LegitScript close that gap?
That gap is exactly what we’re trying to eliminate. Too often, healthcare merchants think of compliance and payment processing as two completely separate boxes they need to check. They find a processor, get told they need LegitScript Certification, and then suddenly they’re starting an entirely new process with another company. It creates friction, confusion, and—most importantly—delays.
Our Enterprise Partnership with LegitScript allows Mentom to help connect those dots from the beginning. Instead of simply telling a merchant, “Come back when you’re certified,” we can help educate them on what’s required, why it matters, and get them moving in the right direction with LegitScript.
For us, it’s about being more than the company that approves the MID. We want to be a resource throughout the process. Compliance and payments are incredibly intertwined in healthcare, so it makes sense for the experience to feel connected too.
At the end of the day, the merchant has the same goal we do: get compliant, get approved, and start processing.
What's the most common misconception healthcare merchants have about what LegitScript Certification actually involves?
I think the biggest misconception is that it’s simply another fee they have to pay before they can start processing payments.
For entrepreneurs who are new to healthcare, the initial reaction is often, “Why is this necessary?” They may view certification as an additional hurdle rather than something that adds real value to their business.
What they don’t always realize is how much actually goes into the LegitScript Certification process. It’s not simply paying a fee and receiving a certification. LegitScript takes an in-depth look at the business, its practices, marketing, policies, and overall compliance.
Once merchants understand what’s actually being evaluated—and why—the conversation changes. Certification becomes less about another requirement standing in their way and more about demonstrating that they’re operating responsibly in a highly regulated industry. That’s the misconception we spend a lot of time helping merchants overcome: LegitScript Certification isn’t just another cost of getting approved; it’s an investment in building a compliant, sustainable business.
Once a merchant is referred into certification, what does Mentom actually do to keep the application moving, and where do delays typically happen?
Our role is really to help expedite the process and make the connection as seamless as possible. We can help merchants understand what to expect, make sure they’re getting to the right place, and help eliminate some of the back-and-forth that can slow things down.
But once the certification process begins, we’re intentionally letting the healthcare compliance experts communicate with the merchant. LegitScript is the expert, and we don’t want to blur those lines. We trust their team to do what they do best, while we focus on what we do best—getting the merchant ready for payment processing.
It creates a much more efficient path!
After certification, what does staying compliant and staying online look like for these merchants long-term? How is Mentom involved in that?
Certification is really the beginning, not the finish line. Healthcare is constantly evolving—regulations change, businesses change, marketing changes, and merchants introduce new products or services. Staying compliant means continuing to operate within those standards as the business grows.
That’s where having the right partners becomes really important. LegitScript is the expert on the certification and compliance side, and Mentom stays focused on the payments side. We’re not here to act as a merchant’s compliance department, but we do stay engaged with our merchants and help them understand when something may impact their ability to process.
Ultimately, our goal is longevity. We don’t just want to get a merchant approved and processing; we want to help them stay processing. That means maintaining an open line of communication, being proactive when we can, and making sure they have the right resources and partners around them as their business evolves.
Has offering merchants a clear, supported path to certification changed how long they stay with Mentom or how they talk about the experience?
Absolutely. I think our merchants appreciate that we want to do things the right way, not just the quickest way. There’s a big difference between speeding up a process and cutting corners, especially in healthcare.
Our expedited certification codes through LegitScript show merchants that we understand time matters and that we’re willing to help remove unnecessary delays wherever we can. But expedited doesn’t mean sloppy. The same compliance standards still have to be met, and we’re very transparent about that from the beginning.
I think that approach builds trust. Merchants know we’re working with urgency on their behalf, but we’re also focused on setting them up for long-term success. We don’t want to get someone processing quickly only to create problems for them down the road.
That’s something our merchants really appreciate about Mentom: we’ll move as fast as we responsibly can, but we’re going to do it the right way.
What would you tell a healthcare merchant who assumes certification will slow them down instead of helping them grow?
I would tell them to look beyond the few weeks in front of them and think about the business they’re trying to build. When you’re ready to launch, anything standing between you and revenue can feel like it’s slowing you down. I completely understand that.
But in healthcare, getting online quickly doesn’t mean much if you can’t stay online—or effectively market your business once you’re there.
That’s where LegitScript Certification can actually become a tool for growth. Beyond helping satisfy requirements for payment processing, certification can also give eligible healthcare merchants access to advertising on major platforms that require LegitScript Certification. That can be incredibly valuable for a business trying to acquire customers and scale.
Yes, certification takes time, and that’s why Mentom works to help expedite the process wherever we can. But we never want speed to come at the expense of doing things correctly.
If your goal is to build a healthcare business that can scale, advertise, maintain reliable payment processing, and be around for the long haul, certification isn’t necessarily something slowing your growth. It can actually be one of the things that enables it.
Are you an online pharmacy or telemedicine provider? Get certified!
Become a certified healthcare merchant and unlock the benefits of LegitScript Certification today, including the ability to participate in online advertising and payment processing programs. Many of the world’s leading companies require or recognize LegitScript Certification.