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Reviewing Payment Settings for Payment Plans

Alyssa Elso avatar
Written by Alyssa Elso
Updated yesterday

Payment Plans are currently in beta and accessible only to a limited number of practices at this time.

Managing payment settings is crucial to ensuring smooth transactions and automated processes within PbN. This guide will walk you through key settings that should be reviewed when configuring Payment Plans.


Navigating to Settings

Start by navigating to Payments > Settings.


Payment Plan and Automated Follow-Up Settings

Accounts on Active Payment Plans

This toggle prevents patients who are already enrolled in an active payment plan from receiving automated follow-up messages for overdue balances. If enabled, patients with a payment plan will not be included in the automated follow-up sequence, reducing redundant notifications.

Offer Payment Plans with Automated Follow-Ups

Enabling this setting will allow patients in the automated follow-up campaign to be offered payment plans. This ensures that patients who are already being contacted for overdue balances have the option to enroll in a structured payment plan to settle their accounts.


Payment Plan Settings

Failed Payment Retries

This setting determines how many times a failed payment on a payment plan will be retried before marking the plan as delinquent. Options range from 1 to 5 retry attempts per day. If a payment fails, the system will attempt to charge the card on file based on the selected number of retries.

Payment plans with failed payments will appear on the Retry List under Payment Plans.


If all retry attempts fail, the payment plan will be marked as Delinquent, and the patient’s plan will move into the Delinquent List on the Payment Plans page.


Delinquent Payment Plan Follow-Up Sequence

When a payment plan becomes delinquent, practices can customize the follow-up process to ensure patients are properly notified and encouraged to make payments.

Customizing Follow-Up Steps

  • Add or remove steps in the sequence

  • Choose SMS, Email, or both for follow-up communications

  • Assign tasks for staff to manually follow up if needed


Additional Payment Plan Settings

Post-Payment Type & PMS Sync

Practices can configure the post-payment type and choose whether payments from payment plans should automatically sync with the PMS. This ensures that financial records remain up to date without manual intervention.

Payment Plan Agreement

Each payment plan includes an agreement that the patient must accept before enrolling. A default agreement is provided, but practices should review and customize this document to align with their financial policies. The agreement should clearly outline payment expectations, terms, and consequences for non-payment.


Payment Plan Communication Templates (Email & SMS)

How to Find the Templates

To locate and edit your email and SMS templates for payment plans:

  1. Go to the Payments module.

  2. From the left-hand navigation, click on Templates.

  3. Scroll to the section with the Payment Plan Templates.

You’ll see a list of available templates for different stages of the payment plan journey, such as:

  • Successful Payment Received

  • Plan Completed

  • Payment Failure

  • Final Notice

  • Delinquent Plan

  • Custom Payment Requests

  • Upcoming Installment Reminders

You can customize each option by clicking Edit next to the delivery method you wish to modify.

Available Merge Tags

You can include dynamic placeholders (merge tags) to personalize messages:

  • {{ first_name }}

  • {{ payment_plan_name }}

  • {{ payment_plan_amount }}

  • {{ payment_plan_installment_amount }}

  • {{ payment_plan_outstanding_dollars }}

  • {{ payment_plan_days_till_next_payment }}

  • {{ payment_plan_frequency }}

  • {{ payment_plan_installment_number }}

  • {{ payment_plan_installment_due_date }}

  • {{ payment_plan_total_installment_amount }}

  • {{ payment_plan_installment_link }}

  • {{ practice_name }}

  • {{ practice_phone_number }}

  • {{ practice_email }}

  • {{ practice_address }}

Tip: Use professional and empathetic language in your templates to maintain patient trust and encourage timely payments.


Final Review and Best Practices

  • Verify that payment plan options align with the practice’s financial policies

  • Ensure that retry attempts are set to a reasonable number to balance collections and patient experience

  • Customize the delinquent follow-up sequence to match the practice’s preferred communication methods

  • Update the payment plan agreement to reflect clear terms and conditions for patients

  • Review and personalize your Payment Plan Email and SMS templates for consistent branding and clear communication

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