Running a veterinary practice is hectic, we know. On top of various animals coming and going within the office, you have to manage day-to-day tasks, confirm patient check-in and checkout, maintain patient records and, of course, oversee payments.
Juggling all these responsibilities requires proven, successful processes, and one or two softwares to help you along the way. With this in mind, we recommend selecting a veterinary practice payment software that features the following functionalities:
- Paperless Transactions: If you’re still handling paper receipts for every transaction, it’s time for an upgrade. A payment software like a Virtual Terminal eliminates paper receipts, the time it takes to sort them and the associated storage costs.
Instead of using paper, your veterinary practice should use a payment software that collects electronic signatures and digitally stores the receipts. This way, receipts are searchable by customer name, date, transaction amount or even by a custom field value you can set. You can associate a patient ID number with any transaction to efficiently track patient histories. Plus, the receipts are stored for the lifetime of your account, for free. - Simple Bank Reconciliation: Going paperless with a Virtual Terminal also means simplifying your bank reconciliation process. An ideal payment software produces real-time reports for both batches and deposits. This eliminates manually totaling batch reports, lining them up to the bank account deposit total and deciphering discrepancies at the end of the month. You can reconcile your bank account in minutes with the best payment software.
- Cards on File: It’s likely your veterinary practice has repeat patients, so how nice would it be to streamline the owners’ checkout experience? Storing cards on file allows you to run a card at the beginning of a visit and charge the card for the final balance without inconveniencing pet owners after a procedure or service. This helps keep the focus on the pet’s health and streamlines the checkout process.
Repeat customers benefit from the convenience of never having to offer up their cards moving forward. Recharge a card with a click of a button and increase security by encrypting cardholder data. Do your patients tend to prefer paying via check? That’s also possible with ACH payment processing.
In addition to a swift, in-person checkout process, storing cards on file allows you to run easy over-the-phone payments and, get this, still collect a remote signature to verify the purchase. - Recurring Payment Schedules: Issuing long-term prescriptions or offering wellness plans for your patients? Recurring billing can automate payments for prescription refills. Expensive procedures like surgery or chemotherapy can be paid off in increments with a recurring payment plan, providing convenience for clients and your office staff as payments run automatically.
Your practice does all it can to offer the best patient experience, so why not do the same for your staff and pet owner’s who foot the bill? Don’t settle on just any payment software, find one with these features to ensure your practice provides an exceptional experience for staff, customers and even those little furballs you treat daily.
Hear how a veterinary practice streamlined its payments.
Does your veterinary practice payment software have any of these features? In the comments section below, tell us which payment software feature benefits your practice the most.
Editor's Note: This post was originally published in January 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness and accuracy.
