The Bill Payment screen allows the patient to conveniently pay their bill using any number of options offered by their provider including pay now, later, Auto-Pay, or setting up a payment plan.

Figure 19 - Patient Portal Pay Now

Choose Pay Now to pay your bill immediately using a card on file from your digital wallet or a new credit/debit/HSA card. To add a new card to your digital wallet, simply provide the card number, expiration, CVV and billing zip code. If your provider allows payment via ACH, you can choose a bank account by providing the routing number and account number for your bank account.

Choose Pay Later to pay your bill on a future date. You will be prompted to select a date within the next 60 days and a payment method.

Choose Payment Plan (if your provider allows payment plans) and you will be presented with options for paying your bill over a period of time (monthly, bi-monthly or weekly). Plan options are defined by your provider but include optional down payment, optional setup fee, optional interest, the installment amount, number of installments, and start date. Monthly plans draft on the same day of the month (using the selected start date). Bi-monthly plans draft 15^th or 30^th (28^th or 29^th for February) to keep installments at twice per month. The date picker will only allow you to choose those dates. Weekly plans draft on the same day of the week chosen for the start date. 

Figure 20 - Payment Plan Setup

If any plan options include down payment, setup fee and/or interest, when you select each option, it will notify you of a minimum down payment, setup fee, the total interest paid on the plan and the annual percentage rate (APR). The down payment reduces the principle balance due before interest is calculated and comes out of the first installment at setup. You can always pay more than the minimum to reduce your installments and interest. The setup fee is also included in the first installment at setup. The blue box will summarize the plan installment breakdown based on your selection and any applicable technology fees or interest charges so that you know exactly what you are charged.

Additionally, we confirm the email and mobile for the guarantor to ensure the payment plan communication will be delivered for balance updates, advanced notice of an installment, failed installments, etc. NOTE: If the guarantor’s email or phone is valid and PatientPay has already communicated to the patient through that email/phone (dunning communication or previous payment plan), we do not display the dialog.

Figure 21 - Payment Plan Communication Preferences

Enter the payment method details or select a card / bank account on file and click on Submit Payment to complete the setup. If your organization requires signing a plan agreement, a payment plan agreement will be shown with a summary of the plan terms.

Once you've check all the required boxes and signed the agreement, the ACCEPT AND PAY button will be enabled.

Upon pressing ACCEPT AND PAY, the Review and Confirm Payment dialog will be shown to confirm the patient is ready to setup the payment plan.

Once the patient confirms payment of their bill, the Payment History section of the Bill Details page will be updated with a listing of each payment made to the bill in descending order (most recent payments first). We display the date, payment amount, payment method, confirmation number for the transaction, and payment status (Approved, Declined, etc.).

Auto-Pay

If Auto-Pay is enabled for your provider, you will have the option to enroll in Auto-Pay when paying your bill. This allows a new bill to be paid automatically using the card or bank account on file. Below is the toggle switch for Auto-Pay on the Patient Portal. It will appear below the New Credit/Debit or Bank Account.

Figure 22 - Auto-Pay Enrollment

Upon toggling Auto-Pay on, the patient has the option to specify a maximum amount for any bill for the selected provider. The default is blank which means no maximum (all bills are paid automatically). If the provider has a default maximum configured, it will be prefilled here and the patient can change the value at any time.

Upon pressing Submit Payment, the payment will be made immediately for the current bill, and the payment method will be enrolled for Auto-Pay for this organization for any new bills. The next time a new bill is created for this provider, the payment method will be queued up for a scheduled payment. At that moment, the patient will receive email/text communication confirming bill payment is set up. Three days prior to the draft of payment, the patient will receive email/text communication indicating their card or bank account is about to be drafted and how much. The guarantor/patient can login to the Patient Portal to cancel Auto-Pay or change payment methods at any time. It is available by access the Payment Methods section under My Profile or in the Payment Methods listing when viewing/paying your bill.

Technology Fee

If a Service Fee is enabled for your provider, and the bill amount exceeds the configured threshold, the Pay Now screen will automatically calculate a technology fee and apply it to the payment when paying with credit/debit card. This includes cards on file. A fee is not calculated when using Bank Account/ACH. Provider use this feature to pass on card processing fees associated with higher bill balances.

Below the Credit, Debit, HSA or FSA Card payment method, a message is displayed to the patient explaining the fee (configurable in Admin Config). Additionally, a “Technology fee” line item is added to the bill payment summary so the patient is aware of the fees included. The fee percentage is also configurable in Admin Config.

Figure 23 - Technology Fee on Desktop

Figure 24 - Technology Fee on Mobile