The health-care industry is predominantly a simple, repetitive daily act carried out by millions of Americans: popping a pill. Seven out of 10 Americans are on prescription drugs. About 4 billion prescriptions are written annually, an average of 13 prescriptions per person. Taking our daily pills is our most common …

Advent International, a private-equity firm with considerable experience in the payments space, announced Friday that it had acquired a majority stake in the big independent sales organization and payment processor Clearent LLC and merged it with FieldEdge, an independent software vendor serving home-services contractors. Advent had also bought FieldEdge. Financial …

Processor Payment Data Systems Inc., which acquired the independent sales organization Singular Payments LLC in September, reported revenues of $5.62 million in 2017’s fourth quarter, up 94% from $2.89 million a year earlier. Revenues for all of 2017 totaled $14.6 million, up 21%. Full-year credit card transaction and dollar volume …

PayPal Holdings Inc.’s Braintree e-commerce processing unit launched Braintree Extend, a service offering that includes support for transaction services, rewards and loyalty, and contextual commerce. Brazil’s central bank this week announced a cap on debit card interchange of 0.80% of the transaction, while averaging no more than 0.50%, according to …

E-commerce platform provider Shopify Inc. chose Google’s cloud services to help host its online stores, Bloomberg reported. Payments provider Net Element Inc. said Jonathan Fichman, a former Bank of America Merrill Lynch executive who currently is managing director of C-Anax Ventures & Advisory, joined its board of directors.

Square Inc. is testing a program that gives consumers $1 off purchases at coffee shops when they pay with Square Cash, MarketWatch reported. Payout provider Hyperwallet announced that tilr, a recruiting platform, is using Hyperwallet for payouts to its clients. Candex, a business-services payments provider for purchases of under $100,000, …

The Electronic Transactions Association announced its inaugural group of “Forty Under 40” up-and-coming payments-industry leaders. Cubic Corp. said its Cubic Transportation Systems unit and John Laing, a builder of mass-transit infrastructure, came to terms with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to build and operate a new fare-payment system, including contactless bank card payments through …

Macy’s Inc. said it is launching a self-checkout feature in its mobile app that lets customers scan an item with their phone and pay with a registered card. So-called mobile-checkout stations validate purchases, take off security tags, and bag the goods. The launch follows a test at the chain’s Woodbridge, …

XCore Technologies, a component maker for card manufacturers, introduced a technology that it said eliminates issues when making a contactless payment using a metal card. TruRating Ltd., a technology company specializing in point-of-payment customer feedback services, announced it has joined the app marketplace of point-of-sale terminal maker Poynt. In an …

Blockchain start-up Lightning Labs raised $2.5 million in seed financing from investors that included Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Square Inc. and Twitter Inc., CNBC reported. Lightning Labs is developing technology that it says will make Bitcoin transactions faster and cheaper. The Square Cash app supports Bitcoin. BlockCypher, a blockchain …