You are here: Configuration> Financial Admin> Payment Methods vs. Payment Types

Payment Methods vs. Payment Types

patientNOW has 2 concepts that apply to payments: Payment Methods and Payment Types.

  • Payment Method describes how the patient is making payment (e.g. Cash, Gift Card, etc.).
  • Payment Type describes what and/or why (e.g. Deposit, Copay, etc.)

Note: This page includes generic Add, Edit, and Disable Functionality

  • Add New: opens a new record at the bottom of the window with all of the fields empty. Please carefully review the existing descriptions to see if one of them may work BEFORE adding a description to the system
  • Add as New: must be selected to save the information after completing the empty Add New screen. May be selected when an existing record is in focus and you wish to create a copy of that record instead of creating a new, blank record.
  • Save Modifications: must be selected when you have made changes to an existing record and you wish to save the changes.
  • Disable: select the disable checkbox and select Save Modifications.

Warning: patientNOW does not allow you to delete configuration items because they may already be assigned to a patient. However, you may disable them so that they will not appear in patientNOW in order to be selected.

Configuring Payment Methods

Navigate to Administration | Financial Administration, Payment Methods tab.

Warning: The following Payment Methods are used by the system and should not be changed / disabled without checking with your trainer: Award Points, Batch, Credit, Gift Card, SecurePayNOW, Cash, and Check.

 

Select Add New Payment Method and enter information

  • Payment Method - a description of the payment method
  • Display Order - this determines what order this payment method appears in lists (e.g. an order of 10 will appear above an order of 120)
  • Use as Refund Method - when this box is selected, this method will appear as a Refund Method when refunding a patient payment
  • Use as Credit Card Payment Method - only check this box when the payments will be processed through your Merchant Services provider. This is generally limited to American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa)
  • Use as Other Payment Method - this allows the Payment Method to appear in the Other pull-down on Apply Patient Payment dialog. In general, the Payment Methods you add will have this box checked.

 

Configuring Payment Types

Navigate to Administration | Financial Admin, Payment Types Tab.

Select Add New and complete information.

  • Payment Type - a description of the payment type
  • Display Order - this determines what order this payment type appears in lists (e.g. an order of 10 will appear above an order of 120)
  • Send to HL7 - no longer used
  • HL7 Code - no longer used