Securing payment

Christmas may be the season to be merry but it is also the season when credit cards tend to receive a hammering. To help shoppers the credit reference agency Experian has put together seven tips on managing cards wisely. These include making payments on time, never withdrawing cash on credit cards and keeping an eye on the total amount of credit which you have across all of your cards.

But credit cards are not just for Christmas and used wisely they can be an important tool in financial management, both for purchaser and for provider. Whether spreading the cost of purchase or securing payment, credit cards can be mutually beneficial.

That is one reason why Clinic Appointments are now pleased to be able to offer a secure card processing service for offsite payments. The service accepts both credit and debit cards and can be used as a means of helping to ensure that payment will be collected from clients who book an appointment either online or via a call to one of our receptionists. At the time of booking we reserve a payment amount on the client’s card, with the payment either being taken in full once the appointment has taken place, or in the event of a no-show an amount being debited in accordance with a health practice’s stated cancellation policy. Should the client choose to pay by other means the reserved payment can simply be released.

Just by being asked to provide card details up front, clients are far more likely to attend their appointments; benefitting both the health practice and the patient. And as you’d expect from a Clinic Appointments service, the Card Processing Service is secure. So when your patients cancel their appointments with a flimsy excuse, simply don’t show up for appointments or promise that ‘the cheque is in the post’ you may want to consider secure card processing. It will help you to maximise cash flow potential but more importantly, especially if run alongside our appointment reminder service, you will be helping to ensure that your patients turn up for treatment; benefitting them and their health in the long term.

We continue to look for ways in which Clinic Appointments can help our health practitioner clients to streamline their businesses and maximise patient treatment times. In the meantime may we take this opportunity to wish all of our Clinic Appointment clients a Happy Christmas and a very prosperous New Year.