Posting and Collecting Finance Charges

Whether using TopsPay or another processor, there are times when passing along the fees for processing may be necessary.  Below are suggestions from Tops how to correctly charge patients for credit card processing / finance fees and reflect them properly in contracts, ledgers, and AutoPay Plans.

Scenario: The patient elects treatment and chooses to pay for the treatment fee using their credit card over the course of their treatment.

Example contract:

Step 1 - Record the Contract for the Treatment

1. Create the contract for $6000
2. Record the initial fee as $1000 for the downpayment
3. Record the monthly fee as $433

Note: The contract will not reflect the $200 additional in finance charges.

Step 2: Post the Finance Charge

Open the Transaction Window (Command-T) and post a Finance Fee to the patient's ledger.  For this example, 4% of the $5000 financed is $200.   The patient should now reflect a Due Now balance.

If you do not have a Finance Fee fee type, go to Tops Ortho>Practice Set-up>Fee Schedule to create a new fee type. Make sure to check the box to exclude the fee from claims.

Step 3: Create the AutoPay plan

Create the autopay plan for a Total Plan balance of $5200.  The first payment will cover the $200 finance charge reflected in the Due Now.  The remaining $233.00 will apply towards the first charge date from the contract.  At this point it is best to reduce the first charge amount to reflect $233.

Step 4 - Modify the scheduled contract monthlies of the contract

Step 5 - Charge out the initial fee and collect the down payment

The patient will have a Due Now of $200.00.  On the first charge date of the contract, an additional $233 will post to the patient's due now.  The patient will now reflect $433 as Due.  The $433 will be paid on the first autopay date.

Summary

Below is a snapshot of the contract, ledger and autopay plan:

• Contract reflects $6000, with $5000.00 in scheduled monthlies
• Ledger reflects a due now of $200.00 for the finance charge.
• Autopay plan reflects the $5200.00 due by the patient, in future monthly payments

Scenario: The patient pays via credit card and the office needs to recoup the processor's finance fee.

The following can posted in a single transaction window or in multiple . Use Action>New Transaction or Command-T to open Transaction Window

Step 1: Post the transaction fee for the treatment.

Step 2: Post the transaction fee for the finance charge

Step 3: Post the customer's payment to cover both fees