You’re able to request a patient for a deposit while scheduling an appointment via the Clinicminds calendar.
Please keep in mind that you need an active and connected Stripe account before setting up this feature. To learn more about setting up and connecting your Stripe account, please follow this article.
Before you can start using this feature, we recommend walking through the settings for requesting deposits for bookings via the calendar. To do so, please follow this article.
In general, two different processes can occur.
Direct debit / credit card deposit
You can charge a deposit or prepayment directly during the scheduling process. This could be on the phone or at the front desk.
Payment via hyperlink
You can set up defaults for deposit requests (amount and deadlines)
Or you can choose a deposit request per individual booking.
Both workflows start with the normal process of scheduling. Open the calendar to book an appointment or start booking via the patient overview window by choosing ‘add new appointment’.
Choose the correct day and time and click on the calendar to call up the appointment pop-up. In this pop-up, you can now see a new section for deposits.
When working with deposits for appointments, it’s important to remember that all scheduled appointments will be pending and will get finalized or confirmed when the deposit is made.
Finally, you’re able to select whether to cancel the appointment automatically if the deposit isn’t paid in time.
Note: you can change all default settings according to your needs or wishes during the scheduling process.
Situation 1
For online payments via hyperlink: If you’ve set up defaults for deposits, these default settings are selected in this section automatically. The checkbox “require deposits” will be ticked, the deposit amount and the payment term are selected accordingly.
Situation 2
If you did not set up a default deposit for this type of treatment/category or if you wish to overrule a default setting, you’re able to require a deposit for this individual booking. To do so, select the “require deposit” checkbox. Next, type in the amount for the deposit.
Now, select the payment term. Two parameters determine when the deposit is due for payment:
Days & Hours
After the booking & Before the appointment
Examples
When choosing “2 days after the booking”, the deposit is due for payment within the next two days. If selected, the pending appointment will get canceled automatically when the deposit isn’t paid.
When choosing “2 days before appointment”, the deposit is due for payment two days before the scheduled appointment. If selected, the pending appointment will get canceled automatically when the deposit isn’t paid.
As you can see, both parameters determine when the deposit amount is due for payment.
E-mails
The following e-mails / SMS are sent to your patient:
Deposit required (pending appointment)
Reminder deposit requirement (halfway deposit term)
Appointment cancellation (when deposit is not paid)
Appointment confirmation (when deposit is paid)
All e-mail templates are editable and can be found via menu > clinic settings > email & SMS settings > appointments