FlexSchedule Credit Card Holds + Deposits

*Available in version v5.11.0 and above when Flex Integrated Payments and FlexSchedule are both enabled

For practices who are using Flex Integrated Payments (formerly FlexPay) and FlexSchedule in tandem, you can now request a deposit or hold from patients when they are booking appointments online. 

Deposit: Obtains credit card information from the patient, stores it securely, and charges their card the amount specified by the practice in the settings

Hold: Obtains credit card information from the patient, stores it securely, and does NOT charge the patient but rather holds the card information so the practice can charge late cancellation/reschedule fees as outlined in office policies. 

To enable credit card acceptance with FlexSchedule, first make sure you are logged in as an admin user with access to Flex settings. From there, click the settings icon in the upper left corner of the landing page. Select FlexSchedule from the tabs along the top and scroll half way down the page. You will see a "Credit Cards" button as shown below. 

The top toggle is for credit card holds. When you hover over the info icon, more details are shared on both credit card holds and reservation deposits. 

Credit Card Hold

Once toggled to the ON position, you can edit the patient facing description and attach appointment types as desired. The default description can be changed to ensure the text displaying to the patient is in alignment with your practice policies. The text outlined in red below is found in the Credit Card Hold Description field in the settings. 

*Please be aware - the default text DOES specify that a $25 cancellation fee will apply. This text can be changed based on the cancellation fee policy in your practice. 

After updating the description, you can then decide which appointment types to apply the hold to. All of your appointment types configured in FlexSchedule will display in the drop down box for you to choose. You may choose as many or as few appointment types as you desire. Only appointment types selected here will have the hold applied. 

Reservation Deposit

Once toggled to the ON position, you can edit the patient facing description and attach appointment types as desired.  The only additional component to the deposit in the settings is choosing a deposit amount. The default amount is $25 and can be adjusted according to your office policies. This is the amount that WILL BE CHARGED to the patient when they book an appointment type that requires a reservation deposit. You will also select which appointment types should require a reservation deposit according to your preferences. 

Appointment Booking Process

The image below shows what the patient could see if they are scheduling an appointment that requires a credit card hold. 

The image below shows what the patient could see if they are scheduling an appointment that requires a credit card deposit.

Once the patient books their appointment, the payment (if a deposit is utilized) will be posted in the Open Dental ledger with a note distinguishing it as a FlexSchedule, as shown in the image below. The two other important details to note in relation to the payment are that it will a) be assigned to the default provider in your Flex Payments settings and b) will go in as an unallocated payment. Once the procedures are completed in the ledger, your team can transfer the unallocated payment to the procedure codes as desired. 

The card details are securely stored in the Flex patient profile. You can see the saved card by clicking the manage icon in the patient profile. 

The card will be displayed for you, in addition to any other cards the patient has on file. 

By clicking the logs icon (the image to the right of "Stored Cards" above) you can also see how the card was stored for future reference. 

The card can now be used for future in office transactions as well as recurring payment plans as desired! 

A receipt will be emailed to the patient, if using the deposit, once the appointment is successfully scheduled. 

Payments Tab

When accessing the Payments Tab ($ icon) and the payments log in Flex, you will see an additional column added to the right to capture if a payment made was an online scheduling deposit. This column will not display until you have collected at least one deposit through FlexSchedule. When the deposit is received you will see "OS Deposit" in the Payment Type which indicates that this payment was taken through FlexSchedule.

A few details to remember:

1. Returning patients to the practice may already have a specific card on file and, in this case, there will be two cards in the profile. You can delete the duplicate if you wish.

2. The payment will post to the ledger as an unallocated payment under the default provider in Payments settings

3. If you opt not to use the credit card hold or deposit nothing changes with the existing FlexSchedule workflow

4. You MUST be using both Flex Integrated Payments and FlexSchedule to utilize the feature