This feature is available for Jane Payments users. If you’re not signed up yet, you can learn more about Jane Payments and get all set up when you’re ready!
A pre-payment policy for your clinic means that a patient will need to leave a card on file, pay a deposit, or pay the full amount when they book in. This can be customized to apply to all appointments, or for only first-time appointments. When a payment is made for an appointment as part of a pre-payment policy, it is added as a “pending” payment and the same amount is added as a credit on the patient’s account.
If you only require a card on file, the card will not be charged unless you choose to use it for a Late Cancellation/No-Show fee or to sell a Gift Card or Membership ahead of the appointment.
We hear all the time from our community how helpful these policies are for preventing no-shows.
Setting Up a Clinic Wide Payment Policy
To set up a pre-payment policy for your clinic, first navigate to the Online Booking section in your clinic Settings. Scroll down to the Payment Policy section to change the pre-payment policy at the clinic. This can be changed by any full-access user at the clinic.
To make the first-visit policy different for patients, you can change the “First Visit Payment Policy” setting directly below the Payment Policy setting to be different.
Modifying a Specific Patient’s Payment Policy
If needed, you’re able to modify a specific patient’s Payment Policy to differ from your clinic wide Payment Policy.
To do so, head to that Patient Profile > Edit / Settings and scroll down to the Online Booking Payment Policy. Simply use the drop down menu to select their Payment Policy then Save and you’re good to go.
For example, you can select No payment required to exempt the patient from entering a credit card at the time of booking, or choose a payment policy to require a credit card from a specific patient even if there’s no clinic-wide policy in place. This allows you to tailor the booking experience based on individual patient needs.
Viewing Pre-Payments
To view a pre-payment on an account, navigate to the profile in Jane and select the Billing Tab. From there, select the “Payments” tab to see all of the patient’s payments. Any payments marked as “pending” are pre-payments, and have not yet been applied to an invoice.
By clicking the View button, you’ll be able to remove this payment’s association with the booked appointment or view it in the schedule.
Note: Removing pre-paid appointments cannot be undone. It is not possible to set up prepaid appointments on the administrative side.
When pre-payments are enabled, there are a few different types of values that you should become familiar with when you’re viewing a payment that was pre-paid: total applied, balance remaining and available to apply.
- Total Applied = Amount applied to invoice
- Balance Remaining = Total Credit (Intended Credit + Available Credit)
- Available to Apply = Available Credit (appears when there is available credit)
Note: If the No-show button is selected the pending amount is removed and resides in credit. If you would like to use that payment to apply it towards the no-show, you can do so using the receive payment button.
Payment Policy FAQs
- Can I collect different deposits for unique treatments, staff members, or disciplines?
- Can I collect pre-payment deposits if I book the appointment administratively?
- Will the Online Booking Pre-Payment policy be prompted for a $0 treatment?
- Why was a client able to by-pass my Online Booking Pre-Payment policy?
- How can I Refund a Pre-Payment?
- Why are patients being charged a pre-payment when the policy is only for First Visits?
⭐️Can I collect different deposits for unique treatments, staff members, or disciplines?
At this time, online booking deposits cannot be created by discipline, treatment type, or staff member. When a partial deposit or full payment is required, this will apply to all treatments that you offer online booking for.
We do have a feature request for this and we would love to hear from you! You can upvote this feature request and add your feedback here: Payment policies (pre-payment, deposits) by Treatment/Class, Location, or Practitioner
⭐️Can I collect pre-payment deposits if I book the appointment administratively?
Pre-payment deposits can only be captured if the patient is booking themselves online. If you book the appointment on the admin and require partial payment, you can mark the appointment as Arrived ahead of time and collect a partial payment. Visit our guide to learn how to accept a partial payment: Partially Pay an Invoice.
Wondering how to handle pre-payments administratively from clients without an invoice? We’ve got just the guide: Taking an Administrative Pre-Payment.
⭐️Will the Online Booking Pre-Payment policy be prompted for a $0 treatment?
Yes, but there are certain conditions to keep in mind. If the policy requires a credit card on file to complete the booking, then Jane prompts patients to add a card even when the treatment is $0. However, if the policy requires a deposit, the patient does not receive a prompt to pay for the treatment upfront.
⭐️Why was a client able to by-pass my Online Booking Pre-Payment policy?
If you’re noticing that a deposit was collected, this could happen for two main reasons:
- If the treatment is set to $0, no deposit will be collected.
- The Jane Payments account is assigned to one staff member, and the appointment is booked under a different staff.
- Multi-location Clinics: Ensure Jane Payments is enabled at all the applicable locations for the Jane Payments account.
To view and update the location settings for a Jane Payments account, head over to the Settings tab, click on Jane Payments in the left sidebar menu, and then on the pencil icon to the right.
You’ll want to set the staff-assigned dropdown to All Staff for the online booking payment policy to apply universally for all their providers.
Lastly, you’ll want to make sure to assign the Location checkboxes to the locations where the online booking policy should be enabled for. Make sure to hit the blue Save Details button at the bottom of the page to confirm those changes and you’re all set!
⭐️How can I Refund a Pre-Payment?
To start, you’ll want to ensure that the payment is removed from the visit by clicking on the red Remove text.
Jane will give you a heads-up that this action cannot be undone, confirming if you’d still like to proceed.
Next, you’ll see a Refund button. To complete this process, make sure to select the first option from the dropdown to return the funds to their original payment method.
For more information on how refunds work, check out our guide doc on Refunding a Patient Payment.
⭐️Why are patients being charged a pre-payment when the policy is only for First Visits?
Jane will only count a visit as the ‘first’ after a staff member marks the appointment as Arrived. How Jane charges the deposit depends on how the patient books their appointments online as well.
Let’s walk through a couple of scenarios using our Demo Clinic.
Demo Clinic has a first-visit payment policy of $20, but they are not charging deposits on returning clients. Here’s what the settings look like:
Scenario 1
Client A booked two 60-minute massage appointments with Demo Clinic on Mar 27th, and it’s their first time visiting the clinic. At the time of booking, Jane will collect two deposits (Total: $40) for each of the massage appointments.
Scenario 2
Client B booked one 60-minute massage appointment with Demo Clinic on Mar 27th. It is their first time visiting the clinic, so Jane will collect one payment of $20 for the deposit.
After their first visit, Client B booked another follow-up appointment online. This time, they won’t be collecting a deposit, as long as the first appointment was marked as Arrived.
Still have questions? Feel free to contact our support team and we’d be happy to help!