Offering payment plans can benefit both your practice and patients by improving accessibility to care, increasing treatment acceptance, and enhancing patient satisfaction. Engagement makes setting up, tracking, and managing custom payment plans easy with just a few clicks and a user-friendly dashboard.
Interested in adding Engagement Payments with Clearent? CLICK HERE and one of our representatives will reach out to you to help you get set up.
Important notes:
Before you can begin using Engagement Payment Plans, you must be using Engagement Bridge Version 122 or higher. Click here to learn how to update your Engagement Bridge.
If you are unable to access the Payments dashboard or make changes, you have not been granted permission in your user profile. Contact an admin team member in your practice to enable access or work with them to complete the steps outlined in the instructions below. Click here to learn how to update user permissions.
In this article, you'll learn how to:
Automatic Payment Plans are also created during treatment plan presentation when a patient selects a payment installment option. CLICK HERE to learn more!
Navigating the Payment Plans Tab
To create or review existing payment plans, click on the Payments dashboard from the left side navigation, then click on the Payment plans tab.
Use the search bar to locate a patient payment plan by name. By default, the dashboard will show all active, authorized, pending, and failed payment plans for all time. Click on the calendar button to populate payment plans within a certain timeframe.
Click on the Status column to filter patients by payment plan status:
Active: Payment plan is in progress
Authorized: Payment plan has been accepted by the patient and now needs to be activated
Pending: Payment plan has not yet been reviewed and accepted by the patient
Failed: The payment method being charged on this payment plan was declined/failed to process
Expired: Payment plan was never accepted by the patient and the offer has expired
Cancelled: Plan was cancelled by the practice
Completed: There are no outstanding payments left on this plan
By default, all payment plans that are Active, Authorized, Pending, or Failed are shown. Payment plans that are Expired, Cancelled, or Completed are hidden from the default view.
Click on the up or down arrows to organize the patient list in ascending or descending order based on the dollar value.
Use the progress bar to review how many payments have been made out of the total amount of payments that will be collected.
If necessary, use the three-dot menu next to the patient's name to quickly communicate with the patient or access their patient card.
Looking to learn even more about Engagement Payments? Check out our on-demand webinar!
Create a New Payment Plan
Click on the Payments dashboard from the left side navigation, then click on the Payment plans tab
Click on the Collect payment button in the upper right corner, then choose Prepare payment plan
In the next window, search for the patient by entering their name. Click on their name to select then click Next
If you are attempting to create a payment plan for a patient that already has an existing plan in progress, an error message will show. Patients cannot have multiple payment plans. To proceed, cancel the existing plan and create a new plan with the costs of all services combined into one consolidated payment plan
Next, enter the payment details:
First payment date: This is the first date that payment will be collected if the patient accepts the payment plan. The card on file will be charged on this date
Payments frequency currently only allows for monthly charges, so the default Monthly is selected
Total amount: This is the total amount of the payment plan in its entirety. If your practice charges plan rates or other fees, be sure to include those fees in the total here
Number of payments: Enter the the number of monthly payments that the patient will make in order to pay off their plan (ie, 10 payments = 10 months until balance is paid in full)
After all of the payment details have been entered, the amount due each cycle will be automatically generated
Next, enter in the patient's payment method by adding their card details and billing address zip code. We recommend adding a card nickname so that it can be easily referenced in the future should the patient wish to update their payment method
Choose the patient authorization status. By default, we recommend that the patient is sent authorization via email or text prior to the payment plan beginning. However, if you have already received written confirmation from the patient outside of Engagement, you may select to bypass authorization by choosing 'Patient has already authorized plan to begin'
Review the email address pulled from the patient file. If the patient does not have an email address on file, add one here now in order to ensure that the patient receives notifications regarding their payment plan. Some notifications are not sent via text so it's important that an email is included here
When all of the information has been entered, click the Send for acceptance button to remit the plan to the patient for approval
Did you know that sending a treatment plan with payment installment options will automatically create a payment plan? Click here to learn more about what it looks like to send and receive a treatment plan with payment options.
Patient Experience: Receiving and Accepting a Payment Plan
Once you've sent a payment plan to a patient, the patient must accept the patient plan in order to activate it and begin making payments. Payment plans are delivered to patients via the delivery channel method you selected during the payment plan setup process (see step #7 above).
When a patient receives a payment plan, the plan will look similar to this example:
By electronically signing and clicking Confirm, the patient agrees to the payment plan and the payment method entered will be charged on the first due date.
Activate a Payment Plan
Once a payment plan or treatment plan has been accepted by a patient, the payment plan must be authorized in Engagement in order be activated and begin charging the card on file recurring payments.
Payments that still need to be activated are shown as Authorized. An authorized plan has been accepted by the patient and now needs to be manually activated with the first charge date.
To activate a plan and begin recurring charges:
Click on the Actions button of the desired plan and then click Activate payment plan:
Choose the payment plan start date by clicking on the calendar button. This is date that the first charge of the plan will occur on. When finished, click Activate
Once a payment plan has been activated, the payment plan status will update to show as Active
Update the Payment Method of an Existing Plan
To update the current payment method being billed on a payment plan, click on the Actions button of the plan
Choose Change payment card and enter in the updated card details
When finished, click Confirm
Cancel a Payment Plan
If for any reason a payment plan needs to be cancelled, click on the Actions button of the plan
Choose Cancel payment plan
Click Confirm
