CASE STUDY
www.windriverpayments.com
A NATIONAL LEADER IN PERSONALIZED
WELLNESS THERAPIES
Founded in 1985, Belmar Pharma Solutions has become a leader in customized
wellness, specializing in compounded hormone therapies for both men and women.
Working closely with healthcare providers across the country, their 503A compounding
pharmacies and 503B outsourcing facilities deliver tailored treatments to patients in all
50 states.
According to Kevin Burrus, chief information officer for Belmar, the company has
grown rapidly in the last five years through a series of strategic acquisitions. While the
acquisitions added value to the Belmar portfolio, Burrus says they also introduced new
challenges. “Each acquisition came with its own payments processors and pharmacy
management systems.” That left Belmar supporting six different pharmacies — some
with multiple locations — and two manufacturing facilities operating across four
distinct environments.
This fragmented infrastructure created operational inefficiencies and made it difficult
to deliver a consistent customer experience. Burrus knew he wanted to create a single
environment to support patients and providers across the entire organization — and the
first step was to streamline payments processes.
CHALLENGE: MULTIPLE SYSTEMS LED TO REDUCED
EFFICIENCY AND INCREASED COMPLIANCE RISK
The disparity in systems across Belmar’s growing network posed several challenges.
Some pharmacies were working with outdated platforms that didn’t store customer
card information, requiring patients and providers to re-enter payment details for
every transaction. Even then, if customers were working with more than one Belmar
facility, that meant they could have accounts on multiple systems that weren’t
sharing information.
Streamlining Payments for a
Better Customer Experience
Kevin Burrus
Chief Information Officer
~ Belmar Pharma Solutions
How Belmar Pharma Solutions Unified its
Pharmacy Network
CASE STUDY
www.windriverpayments.com
“Customers should have a seamless experience from location to location,” says Burrus.
Instead, a single Belmar customer — whether patient or provider — might have to enter
their credit card information three or four times. “That’s frustrating for our customers,
and it makes reconciliation complicated.”
One approach to overcoming this challenge might be to replicate data from pharmacy
to pharmacy, but that wouldn’t eliminate internal efficiencies. “I wanted to create an
environment that tokenized card data for each customer, a token that is used across
all our locations.” In addition, Burrus wanted to create a central billing profile for each
location that can route transactions through more than one bank account.
When Burrus approached his payments solutions provider at the time with his
objectives, he found they were not open to helping Belmar create a solution to improve
efficiency and deliver a unified customer experience.
SOLUTION: A STRATEGIC PARTNER FOR A SIMPLIFIED
PAYMENT ENVIRONMENT
The answer came from one of the pharmacies Belmar had recently acquired, which had
been working with Wind River Payments and its gateway partner, TrustCommerce.
Wind River Payments specializes in embedded payment solutions for software
providers, focusing on the healthcare industry and pharmacy settings.
“We sat down with the Wind River Payments team to talk through all our challenges and
everything we hoped to achieve,” Burrus says. The company then demonstrated how
its technology and gateway integration could store card information as tokens under a
unique customer ID tied to a location, while still allowing those cards to be used at
peer locations.
“Knowing that just simplified everything,” says Burrus. “Wind River Payments’ industry
expertise was essential. The way they mapped everything out for us allowed me to
clearly communicate what processes we needed to put in place with our pharmacy
management system provider.”
Even though Burrus knew they ultimately wanted to transition all locations to the Wind
River Payments process, he decided to take a phased approach. “Taking this in steps
allowed us to tokenize cards, consolidate systems, and migrate locations in small
groups to avoid any potential disruptions,” says Burrus.
Wind River Payments also advised Belmar on managing patient HSA/FSA cards
during the implementation. “Typically, when you move from one gateway to another,
authorization can take as much as a week before cards are fully functional.” This is often
due to syncing with SIGIS and verifying or updating Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) in
the new system. The result is that patient cards might be declined. “Now we proactively
let patients know there might be a slight delay, so it’s not a surprise if an issue arises
with their payment,” says Burrus.
“From the tokenization to simplifying payments and reconciliation to navigating gateway
changes — Wind River Payments just understands
pharmacy operations so deeply that they were able to
develop a tailored solution that met all our needs.”
“
Wind River Payments’
industry expertise was
essential. The way they
mapped everything out
for us allowed me to
clearly communicate
what processes we
needed to put in place
with our pharmacy
management system
provider.”
Kevin Burrus
Chief Information Officer
~ Belmar Pharma Solutions
CASE STUDY
www.windriverpayments.com
RESULT: A STEP TOWARD A UNIFIED PLATFORM
FOR SCALABLE GROWTH
“With Wind River Payments’ help, I’ve been able to achieve what I set out to — tokenizing
cards and routing transactions where they need to go,” Burrus says. “This was a critical
step toward implementing a single platform and delivering a consistent customer
experience for patients and providers alike.”
Key Outcomes:
• Single tokenization: Customers enter card information once, which is then usable
across all locations.
• Central billing profiles: Transactions are systematically routed to the correct bank
accounts, supporting multiple pharmacy locations across the system.
• FSA/HSA card support: Seamless acceptance with SIGIS registration and proactive
gateway transition planning.
• PCI-compliant tokenization: Enhanced security and reduced compliance risk.
Belmar began with its three largest locations, which Burrus says handle the most
complex prescriptions. “Now I’ve got a C corporation in Wisconsin and Arizona that
share a bank account, and an S corporation in Florida that has its own bank account,
all using one payments system.” This led to a significant reduction in overhead because
they are no longer managing and paying for multiple systems. It also improved
reconciliation processes and made it easier for customers to place orders under one
Belmar umbrella.
From his standpoint, having developed and implemented the solution has saved him
time personally. “We kept discussing the same challenges and potential solutions over
and over again,” he says. “I am so happy we now have a steady state solution that just
works — I can’t ask for more than that.”
Belmar plans to merge four more locations, completing the transitions by June 2026.
Burrus says that they’ll also start looking at other Wind River Payments solutions, such
as card-on-file updating, which systematically updates payment details when cards are
lost, stolen, or expire.
“I really like the solutioning we get with Wind River Payments,” says Burrus. “The team is
always available when we reach out, ready to answer our questions. It’s refreshing when
so many technology companies today have complicated ticketing systems that often
leave you feeling lost.” Wind River Payments’ responsive support, deep understanding of
the pharmacy industry, and commitment to long-term relationships have made them an
invaluable partner in Belmar’s journey.
“
“
With Wind River
Payments’ help, I’ve been
able to achieve what I
set out to — tokenizing
cards and routing
transactions where they
need to go. This was
a critical step toward
implementing a single
platform and delivering
a consistent customer
experience for patients
and providers alike.”
I really like the solutioning
we get with Wind River
Payments. The team is
always available when we
reach out, ready to answer
our questions.”
Kevin Burrus
Chief Information Officer
~ Belmar Pharma Solutions
Kevin Burrus
Chief Information Officer
~ Belmar Pharma Solutions
Navigating SIGIS, FSA and HSA card approvals, omni-channel payments, and special
compliance can be a real headache. Wind River Payments has just the remedy you need
to alleviate that pain. We’re a multi-generation, family-owned, embedded payments
company that specializes in the unique needs of the pharmacy industry.
Whether you’re a software provider or independent pharmacy, Wind River has the
latest payment technology you and your customers need. Plus, we deliver premium,
personalized customer care to ensure you remain pain-free.
Contact us today!
833-274-5875
windriverpayments.com/pharmacy
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