Dental Billing | 3 minutes to read

Dental Software Tip: EasyDental Patient Payment Plan

The steps to creating a payment plan from the Collections Manager are easy:

1. Double-click a patient’s name on the Collections Manager list. (Note: Or by clicking the Billing/Payment Plan Information button.)
  - If a payment plan exists for the patient, the Billing/Payment Plan Information dialog box appears, and you can manage the patient’s account from there.
  - If no payment plan exists for the patient, a message appears asking if you’d like to create one. Click Yes to set up a new payment plan and open the Billing/Payment Plan Information dialog box.
2. From the Billing/Payment Plan Information dialog box, edit the payment plan date of setup in the Date field (see 3 in the image below).
4. Select the payment Interval (see 4 in the image). Your options are:
  - Monthly – Requires a payment once a month.
  - Semi-Monthly – Requires a payment twice a month.
  - Bi-Weekly – Requires a payment every two weeks.
  - Weekly – Requires a payment once a week.
5. Click the Terms button (see 5 in image) to select the finance charge and late charge settings.
6. The Payment Plan Terms dialog box appears. From this dialog box, you can enter interest, or Annual Finance Charge Percent, and create a Late Charge. (Note: If you will not be setting up finance or late charges, leave the fields set to zero and click OK.)
  - In the Billing/Payment Plan Information dialog box (see 6 in the image), the account balance is automatically entered as the patient’s current balance.
  - Edit the Bal. for PP amount here if needed.
7. Enter the date the first payment will be due in the First Pmt Due field (see 7 in the image).
8. Enter the amount of each payment in the Payment Amt field (see 8 in the image).
9. Easy Dental will automatically calculate the number of payments needed to fulfill the payment plan agreement based on the balance and the payment amount.
10. Edit the Total # of Payments (see 9 in the image), if needed. (Note: You can also enter the number of payments, and Easy Dental will calculate the amount of each payment.)
11. Click Print (see 10 in image) to open the Print for Payment Plan dialog box and print any of the following:
  - Truth in Lending Disclosure Statement – This is the terms of the payment plan and includes the annual percentage rate, finance charge amount, total amount financed, and total amount paid at the end of the plan.
  - Amortization of Payments and Finance Charges – This is a schedule listing the interest accrued on the remaining balance for each payment interval.
  - Coupon Book for Scheduled Payments – This creates payment remittance coupons for the patient.
12. Click OK to save the payment plan and return to the Collections Manager.