Dentrix Pay

Strategic Tips to Process Credit Card Payments

Use these four tips to help you choose the best card processing solution for your practice.

Updated 6/30/20

Whether you operate a single dental practice (or are starting one) or operate a multi-site practice, inevitably you’ll find yourself walking down the path of credit card processing. There is a learning curve, and it can be confusing to say the least. Your path can have pitfalls around every bend. So, where do you begin?

Sometimes knowing what not to do is the best way to navigate the path.

Although every business is different and has different needs, let’s take a look at what could go wrong when setting up a system to process credit card payments.

  1. Don’t rush. Many times, entrepreneurs, including dentists, know they have to get their ‘product’ to market first, before competitors, in order to establish market share. This rush can lead to rash decisions and poor planning. Take some time to think about the big picture at your practice, the possibilities, and how you want to grow. Then, develop a business plan before you select your payments processor.

  2. Don’t buy individual, ‘one-off’ products. Again, here’s where the growth plan comes in. It may be challenging to foresee what services you might need in the future, but understand that each part of the credit card payments process may charge fees: from acquirers to merchant accounts to payment processors. Plus, you might need a variety of payment acceptance hardware, all with upfront costs. In fact, if you want your business to grow, you should consider an integrated payments processing system

  3. Don’t limit your customers or your business. If you don’t give your customers multiple payment options, you could slow growth, lose business, or, at the very least, not make a good impression. If customers have a number of options to pay, they’ll be more likely to accept the suggested treatment plan. In addition, make sure your credit card funds will be deposited into your business bank account and be accessible quickly, so you have cash flow if you need to invest in your business.

  4. Don’t assume a lower processing rate means lower costs. The lowest published processing rate may not always mean the lowest overall costs for processing credit cards. There are many other costs that go into your total expense including the cost of hardware, contract cancellation charges, fees and surcharges and more. Perhaps the largest single expense you might incur with your card processing solution are actual labor costs. Processing payments with a non-integrated solution will cost you much more in labor. Where it takes mere seconds to process and record a payment through an integrated solution, it will take several minutes to process and record a payment on a solution that is separate from your practice management software.

A Word on Integrated Payment Processing

Successful practices provide excellent customer service and expertly manage their books. With credit card processing technology that is tightly integrated with your practice management software, you have the opportunity to do both. Integrated payment processing solutions not only expedite the checkout process to save you and your patients valuable time and effort, but they also reduce the likelihood of errors in your accounting.

Dentrix Pay is integrated directly into Dentrix, so you use the same Dentrix payment window for credit card payments that you use for any other type of patient payment. And once you process a payment, the information goes directly into the Ledger so there is no need for you to enter that payment information manually. This cuts down on your duplicated efforts and reduces the chance for payment posting errors. Furthermore, there is no need to reconcile your payments with the Ledger at the end of the day because that is already done.

Dentrix Pay gives your patients more payment options, as they can pay with EMV chip-enabled credit cards, magnetic-stripe cards, FSA and HSA cards, or smartphones. You can even save credit cards with Dentrix Pay. Dentrix Pay is powered by Worldpay, one of the world’s leading credit card processors.


Learn More

Read Introducing Integrated Payments with Dentrix Pay for more information about integrated payments with Dentrix Pay.

Dentrix Pay is available to any Dentrix customer using version G7.2 or higher. PowerPayLE EMV continues to be the payment processing option for customers on older versions of Dentrix. For more information about Dentrix Pay or PowerPayLE EMV visit dentrix.com/pay or call 844.853.2285

Published in the Dentrix eNewsletter, August 2019