Online payments with Stripe have been configured and enabled in Billing Settings > Online Payments.
The Client Portal has been configured and enabled in Account Settings > Portal, and the Online Payments setting is checked.
Sending a bill to a client
You may manually share a bill with a client, which will include the option to pay online if Online Payments are enabled. See the Sharing a bill article for more details.
You may also automatically share billing documents after the bill has been created. See our Automatically sharing billing documents article for more details.
Automatically collect credit card payments
Under the Billing Settings > Billing tab within the Billing Automation section, you may turn on the AutoPay setting so credit card payments are automatically collected. Please see this article for more details.
How clients pay a bill
When Online Payments are enabled, all bills with a client balance will immediately be displayed in the client portal with instruction to pay online. When you share a bill, an email will also be sent to the client with two options to pay: the client can pay using the bill pay link and entering the Invoice # and Access Code, or the client can login to the client portal and pay with a card on file or with a new card. The invoice is also attached to the email.
Example client email for a shared bill
When the client clicks on the bill pay link, they may enter the Invoice # and Access Code to locate the bill.
Invoice # - this is provided both in the Share Bill email and within the Invoice PDF
Access Code - this is a 6-digit number that is provided both in the Share Bill email and within the Invoice PDF
Both values must match exactly those that are provided to be able to look up the invoice appropriately.
Once the client enters the correct invoice information, they'll have the opportunity to pay the bill with a credit card.
The client can then add the full payment or a custom amount equal to or less than the balance amount.
The client may then enter their credit card information and confirm payment.
First, make sure your account is setup for online payments under Billing Settings > Online Payments. If not setup, follow the steps to integrate your Sessions Health account with a Stripe account. Stripe is the credit card processing company we use to process online payments for you.
Online payments tab
Once your account is setup for Online Payments, you can collect a client's credit card, get authorization for use, and perform transactions all within Sessions Health.
Now, add the system form to your forms list. If you navigate to Forms and Documents > System Forms under Intake, you'll see the Credit Card Authorization form.
Intake forms
If credit card payments are your primary form of collection, we suggest going to Account Settings > Portal, scrolling to Intake and check the box next to the Credit Card Authorization form you just added. This make the Credit Card Authorization form a default form when you invite a client or billing contact to the portal.
Intake forms
Sending the Credit Card Authorization form
To send the Credit Card Authorization form to a client, go to the client's Portal tab and click the Manage Documentation button under the Requested and Shared Documents section. In the popup, check the box next to Credit Card Authorization and click Continue. You'll then be able to email the client to notify them of the new form for them to fill out.
Once the client has added a credit card and signed the form, you'll be notified. You may go to Clients > [Client Name] > Billing > Settings and scroll down to Online Payment Methods section to view the credit card. At that point, you can collect any payments using the card on file.
Online payment cards on file
Re-sending a credit card authorization form
If your client needs to update their credit card, you may re-send the credit card authorization form. To do this, go to the Clients > [Client Name] > Portal tab and click the Manage Documentation button. Scroll down the the Intake section and check the box next to your Credit Card Authorization form and click the Save button.
Once a bill is created, you are now ready to process a client payment. Go to Clients > [Client Name] > Billing > Documents and click the status icon of the open bill that you would like to collect payment for.
Once opened, click the Add Payment button to capture a payment.
Enter the amount that the client has paid. (The bill will not be considered closed until the outstanding amount due is paid in full).
The payment types:
Credit/Debit/HSA Card
Cash/Check
Credit/Discount (credit here refers to credit the client may have with you via a prepayment, over payment, or reimbursement)
Other
If you have set up Online Payments to collect Credit Card, Debit, or HSA Payments, select Credit / Debit / HSA Card. You will see a list of client credit cards on file and the default card will be selected.
Note: If you are using a 3rd party payment processor and not Stripe through Sessions Health, you can manually record the credit card payment by unchecking the Online Payment box.
Add a client payment modal
After you have entered the payment amount and type, you can also add any additional notes that you would like to add to this Bill record. You may manually set the date and time so long as it's not an online payment through Stripe.
When a client has one or more contacts associated with their record, or for a couple / conjoint /family client record, any credit cards associated with those contacts or members are also available to use when collecting payment, regardless of who is assigned as the billing contact. For example, in the case of divorced parents, each parent may be a contact for the child and you may collect separate credit cards for each parent to split the bill.
To do so, when adding a client payment, the contacts or members of a client will be displayed in separate tabs for your to select for a partial payment amount.
Select the partial amount and the tab of the person whose credit card you wish to use for payment. You may manually collect payment for each contact or member of the client.
Note: If you are using Autopay, only a single billing contact can be used. Therefore, split-billing can only be done manually.
You may add a client credit by going to Clients > [Client Name] > Billing > Settings. Click the $ under
Credits and enter the amount of credit you'd like to apply.
When the next client payment is due, the credit will be applied to the payment and the credit amount will be adjusted.
The earliest you can charge for services is the day the service is rendered. For instance, in the morning, you can manually create your bills and charge for your appointments later that day, but you cannot charge today for appointments scheduled for tomorrow. However, you may pre-pay for services by creating a bill and adding a product.
To begin, go to the client's Billing > Documents tab, click the New... button, and select Bill.
Next, click the + Add Product button. You can add a custom product name and amount, then click the Add button.
After you save the bill, you can go through the client payment process to charge the amount due. Lastly, since you pre-charged for the service, you'll need to go to the client's Billing > Settings tab to add the client credit. When the next client payment is due, the credit will be applied to the payment and the credit amount will be adjusted.
When a client overpaid for a co-payment / co-insurance
When an EOB comes back and the client should have paid less than what was charged, open the bill and click the Add Payment button, then Insurance Payment. You can change the value of the Client Owes field to what is actually owed. Any overage from that amount initially paid will be refunded as a credit in the client's Billing > Settings tab. By default, future client payments will apply the credit first.
Processing a previous balance or a payment not tied to a session
When migrating to Sessions Health from another EHR, clients may have a previous balance that carries over to Sessions Health. Since these payments aren't tied to a session, there are a couple of ways to handle these payments:
You may follow the same process as Pre-paying for services, but not apply the client credit.
You may retroactively add appointments with those services with an amount due and run through the client payments process.
The Payments report from the Insights page will list all payments made within the specified time range. The report shows all payments generating revenue but no credit or write-off payments.
Is there a way to require clients to keep a card on file?
We offer a PCI-compliant Credit Card Authorization form that can be found in our system forms and added to your account. You can assign this form as part of your client intake. You may also enter a card on the client's Billing > Settings page to keep on file and charge as appropriate. If the client doesn't fill out the credit card authorization form, but you have Online Payments enabled in the client's Portal tab. The client may still apply payments through the portal.
Is it ok to store credit card information in PDFs in my account?
No, you should never collect credit card numbers in your forms or store them as a PDF in your account. Any storage of raw credit card numbers in your account is prohibited. The reason for this is that the federal government heavily regulates the security of the electronic storage of credit cards (called PCI Compliance) and you can face heavy fines for the improper storage of someone's credit card. If you use a credit card processor other than Stripe, you'll want to manage clients' credit cards directly through that processor's application. We recommend setting up Stripe in your account and utilizing our Credit Card Authorization Form to stay PCI-compliant.
You certainly can, but we are not integrated with them as they don't offer a way for us to connect with their systems. If you are using Ivypay, PayPal, Venmo, or other payment service, you can track payments on bills by selecting Other as the payment type on a payment, or uncheck the Online Payment box when using the Credit / Debit / HSA Card method.
How do I set a default credit card?
First, go to Clients > Client Name > Billing > Settings. Then scroll down to online payment methods. When there is more than one card on file, you may click the '...' menu on the card to change the default.
Set a default card
How do I log a payment as Other when using external credit card processing?
After you create the bill and click Add Payment, you can select Other from the Payment Type dropdown.
How can I tell if a client's credit card is on file and when it is charged? I shared the Credit Card Authorization form, but I don't see anything indicating that they added a card.
When a client on-boards, you'll receive a notification. If you shared the credit card authorization form, the notification will alert you that they've completed it. At that point, you can find the client's credit card on file by going to the client's Billing > Settings tab, then scroll down to the Online Payment Methods section.
I'm wondering if you track income per month and yearly reports of income for tax purposes?
Concerning income, we have various reports and insights related to billing. The Revenue report is closest to the one described which can be set to show any time-range of revenue. The Payments report is a more detailed version of the Revenue report.
