Instalment plans
Treatment paid across several visits, without anyone keeping a note.
Long treatment is often paid in stages. A plan makes what is due and what is outstanding a fact in the system rather than a note somebody keeps.
Setting one up
- Agree the total and the number of instalments with the patient.
- Create the plan against their record.
- Record each payment against it as it arrives.
- The remaining balance updates itself; nobody recalculates anything.
Example
Orthodontic treatment over a year
- Total — the agreed course fee
- Instalments — 12, monthly
- At any visit the front desk can see: paid to date, due now, remaining.
- The patient asking "how much have I paid so far?" gets an answer in one click.
Tip
Write the plan down on the day you agree it, not on the day of the first payment. The version in somebody's memory is the one that gets disputed.
When a plan goes wrong
Treatment stops, a patient moves away, the course is shortened. Adjust the plan rather than deleting it — what you need afterwards is a record of what was agreed and what actually happened, and those are two different lines.
Common questions
- Are instalment reminders sent automatically?
- Appointment reminders are automatic; payment chasing is not. The outstanding figure is visible on the patient record for whoever is with them.
- Can a plan span more than one treatment?
- Yes. It is a payment arrangement, not a clinical one.