1. "Please just cut to the chase. How much does DOCPAY ACH cost?"
Most practices elect to have the patient pay the bulk of the cost. A small payment processing fee ($2.50 per payment) is added to each payment that DOCPAY ACH collects. So for instance, if a patient needs to pay off $1000 using 10 $100 payments, then each month the patient will be debited $102.50, with $2.50 being retained by DOCPAY ACH and $100 being credited to the doctor.
Practices using just DOCPAY ACH pay a monthly service fee of only $10. However, most practices elect to enroll in the DOCPAY ACH Bundle at $24.98 per month instead. The ACH bundle includes DOCPAY ACH Payment Plans, ConfiCheck account verification service and DOCPAY online, which provides a payment portal for patients to make online payments.
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2. "What does a patient have to do to qualify for a DOCPAY ACH Payment Plan?"
All that DOCPAY ACH requires is a U.S. Bank Account and a signed authorization from the patient. Any other requirements are totally up to the discretion of the doctor's office. Most offices do require a substantial down payment and some offices use our optional ConfiCheck Account Verification Service to pre-screen patient's bank accounts before setting up a payment plan.
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3. "What happens if there is not enough money in the patient's bank account when the payment is automatically run?"
First, understand that the practice usually has about the same occurence of NSF checks on DOCPAY as they do on paper checks hand written by patients. If, like most practices, you currently experience very few NSF checks in your practice, then you should expect to see very few DOCPAY payments returned as "Insufficient Funds" as well.
Also, in many cases the bank will pay insufficient funds payments anyway since so many accounts now have overdraft protection. However, if the bank does not cover the payment amount, the payment can still be collected. Since the patient has authorized the practice to continue to debit the account until the entire amount is paid in full, DOCPAY will continue to do just that. Another payment is added to the end of the payment cycle. Basically, DOCPAY continues to debit the account until the total balance is collected, the practice asks us to stop or the patient closes the account.
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4. "Is there any fee that is charged if my patient's payment is returned uncollectable?"
Should this occur, the patient is charged a $10 Returned Payment Fee by DOCPAY ACH and an additional payment is added to the end of the payment cycle. The $10 fee is deducted from the next settlement payment made to the practice by DOCPAY ACH. When the fee is eventually collected from the patient, it is fully credited to the practice, so the net cost to the practice is zero.
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5. "Is this payment plan flexible? Can the practice change the total amount due, the individual payment amount or the total number of payments to be made after if it is established?"
Of course! DOCPAY realizes that patients have additional work that changes the balance or the patient's ability to pay a particular amount may change. Have the patient sign a new payment plan authorization form and indicate the desired changes and fax it to us. We also provide a convenient and easy way to alter payment plans on a personalized secure web site. [ Return to Questions ]
6. "What happens if the patient pays the remaining balance directly to the practice before the payment plan is complete?"
Send us a notice indicating cancelation of the remainder of the plan (or note the changes on the DOCPAY ACH web site) and we will not submit any other payments to the patient's bank account. [ Return to Questions ]
7. "On what days of the month can patient payments be made?"
Payments can be debited from the patient's bank account on the 3rd, 10th, 18th and 25th. Any combination of these dates can be used. For example, the payments could either be once per month on the 25th or twice a month with one the 3rd and one on the 10th. [ Return to Questions ]
8. "How often does the practice receive payments from DOCPAY ACH?"
Rather than making the practice have to deal with keeping up with incoming payments every day of the month, settlement payments are credited to the practice bank account twice per month, on the 25th and 10th. The payment on the 25th covers patient payments received the 1st half of the current month. The payment on the 10th covers patient payments received the last half of the previous month. On each of the settlement dates, the practice will receive a detailed settlement report showing which patients payments were received from and how much each payment was. [ Return to Questions ]
9. "What can be done to reduce the risk involved with this type of payment plan?"
DOCPAY offers a unique, inexpensive service to evaluate patient accounts before establishing a payment plan. The service tells the practice whether the patient bank account is valid, if it currently has funds available and whether the account has a history of NSF transactions. For more information on this service, see our ConfiCheck Web Site. [ Return to Questions ]
10. "I have a few uncollectable accounts that I need assistance with. Can you help me get paid on those?"
DOCPAY can provide practices with a service that is a more successfull and less expensive alternative than the traditional collection agency. Fees start at only 5% of the amount collected and can include credit bureau turn-in and attorney-based collections. For more information give us a call at 800-936-2729 or see our MoneyQuest Web Site. [ Return to Questions ]
11. "Can I get a discount on ConfiCheck Account Verification service and DOCPAY online, the web patient payment portal, if I am a client of DOCPAY ACH?"
YES! DOCPAY ACH is normally $10 per month, ConfiCheck is $10 per month and DOCPAY online is $15 per month. If you sign up for the ACH bundle, you get a $10 per month discount. (Only $25 per month instead of $35 per month!) [ Return to Questions ]
