Bank of America BAC has acquired Santa Barbara, CA-based Axia Technologies, Inc., a health care payment and technology firm that provides secure patient payments. The terms of the transaction are not yet disclosed.Following the termination of its joint venture with Fiserv Inc.’s FISV First Data in mid-2020, BofA has been making efforts to integrate merchant banking services with its proprietary platform. The platform delivers innovative services like real-time payments and digital capabilities to support functions including “merchant acquiring, payments processing and settlement, along with value-added services such as analytics and security solutions.”The acquisition, which is expected to boost BofA’s payment offerings for healthcare clients and further accelerate its capability to serve this key vertical, is part of this initiative.Founded in 2015, Axia Technologies’ “integrated offerings aid the financial performance of healthcare providers by expanding the payment options available to patients and streamlining administrative workflows.”Mark Monaco, head of enterprise payments at BofA, said, “Working together, we can leverage our joint expertise and capabilities to deliver a comprehensive range of payment and settlement solutions to our healthcare clients and their patients.”He further added, “Payments are core to what we do at Bank of America. We continue to invest to enable clients with expanded capabilities, and flexible solutions to meet a variety of business needs in an integrated and transparent way that puts the client first.”Healthcare payment solutions is a lucrative business for banks. With this acquisition, BofA will likely be able to expand its reach to new opportunities.Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have gained 30.3% so far this year, outperforming the industry’s 23.5% rally. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Similar to BofA, several other financial firms including JPMorgan JPM and Synchrony Financial SYF have been undertaking initiatives to strengthen their healthcare payment offerings. Late last month, Synchrony Financial’s solution CareCredit announced that its Patient Financing application is now accessible in the Epic App Orchard. Thus, health systems and care providers can use the Epic’s MyChart to offer patients feasible and easy transaction options.Bitcoin, Like the Internet Itself, Could Change EverythingBlockchain and cryptocurrency has sparked one of the most exciting discussion topics of a generation. Some call it the “Internet of Money” and predict it could change the way money works forever. If true, it could do to banks what Netflix did to Blockbuster and Amazon did to Sears. Experts agree we’re still in the early stages of this technology, and as it grows, it will create several investing opportunities.Zacks’ has just revealed 3 companies that can help investors capitalize on the explosive profit potential of Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies with significantly less volatility than buying them directly.See 3 crypto-related stocks now >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM): Get Free Report Fiserv, Inc. (FISV): Free Stock Analysis Report Bank of America Corporation (BAC): Free Stock Analysis Report Synchrony Financial (SYF): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research