Scheduled Activation allows your practice to approve a payment plan without collecting the first payment right away. Instead, you can choose a future due date for the down payment or first installment. Practice by Numbers will automatically charge the patient and activate the plan on that date.
This helps practices offer patients flexibility while ensuring payment plans activate on time—without manual follow-ups.
Why Practices Use Scheduled Activation
Scheduled Activation is commonly used when:
A patient agrees to a plan, but needs the first payment to occur later
Treatment hasn’t started yet, but the plan needs to be approved in advance
The office wants to avoid tracking and manually activating plans
Key benefits include:
Less manual work for your team
Fewer missed or forgotten activations
Clear visibility into plans awaiting their first payment
Automatic alignment of future installments to the selected start date
How to Access Scheduled Activation
Log in to the Practice by Numbers Portal
Go to Payments > Payment Plans
Open a patient with an Accepted payment plan
Select Set Due Date & Activate
This option is available only for eligible installment-based plans in the Accepted state.
Setting the First Payment Due Date
After selecting Set Due Date & Activate, you’ll be prompted to choose the date when the first payment should be charged.
First Payment Due Date is required
The plan cannot be activated without selecting a date
Future installments will be scheduled based on the selected date
Payment Method Requirement
A default payment method must be saved on the patient’s account.
If no default payment method exists:
The scheduled payment cannot process
The plan will not activate automatically
What Happens After Scheduling
Once the due date is confirmed:
The plan moves into a Scheduled status
This indicates the plan is approved and waiting for its first automatic payment
The Scheduled status appears on both the plan and the first payment line item
Automatic Payment & Plan Activation
On the scheduled due date:
The system automatically attempts to charge the patient’s default payment method
If the payment is successful:
The plan becomes Active
Remaining installments continue as scheduled
If the payment fails:
Automatic retries follow standard retry logic
If all retries fail, the plan moves to Delinquent
No manual activation is required.
Payment Schedule Behavior
After scheduling:
The first payment shows a Scheduled status with the selected due date
All future installments are recalculated based on that date
Practices can still:
Charge Now
Mark as Paid Offline, if needed
Editing Before Activation
While the plan remains in the Accepted state, your practice can:
Adjust installment dates
Update plan amounts (when applicable)
Once the Set Due Date & Activate is completed, the plan can no longer be edited before the first payment.
Key Terms
Accepted Plan – Approved by the patient but not yet active
Scheduled Plan – Approved with a future first payment date
Due Date – The date the system attempts to process payment