What is the easiest way to set up recurrent billing?
I have a membership based practice and need each patient to have a monthly charge.
Thanks,
Matt
This would also be useful for a population of patients getting Chronic disease support, as well, though when staff go through and do their monthly maintenance they could make a charge.
It looks to me as if there is no way to do subscription billing with OpenEMR- using an outside app would probably be easier.
This is a worthwhile ability though. I’ll ask MiSquared how much it would cost to deliver.
hi @tallmtt and @VWfeature, this seems like two similar but separate features based on whether an encounter was created and/or insurance is to be billed.
Good point.
In fact many US insurances and IPAs are now using capitation payments for primary care with or w/o visit copays. What’s happening in other countries? I know Britain (which has their own EMR) capitates primary care.
Is OpenEMR set up to manage capitation payments?
This would involve keeping a patient list based on payments for either insurance based or individuals.
One thing about capitation is the lack of a standard for delivery of the monthly payment file.
Usually an e-payment, I think.
It’s been a while, but I think these would be like a monthly EOB.
Big problem is, capitation varies by age and sex and payers have different age/sex capitations.
So thinking as a programmer, for each ins co, there would have to be a table with age ranges, at least 2 genders and PMPM payments.
Or one table with fields- ins co, start age, end age, pmpm payment
The subscription/DPC payments would just be another ‘insurance’
I was looking at Zelle, which unlike credit cards, charges you NOTHING. It integrates with the business’s bank account, and each payment gets listed individually. So keeping track of payments would just involve looking at the bank deposit list, which can probably be automated. So a solution can be cobbled together from other pieces.
To see if your bank or a prospective credit union participates look here–
https://www.zellepay.com/get-started
There was a similar old discussion from 11/20.
I just discovered there are several
Open Source accounting packages that allow you to invoice patients including recurring periodic charges.
Free
GnuCash https://www.gnucash.org/
Free
Apache OFBiz
Base Sunrise plan is free. They add charges if you add payroll or credit card payments
I think Sunrise suits my needs best, but others might find OFBiz more suitable. I’ll play with them and let you know.
WAVE https://www.business.org/finance/accounting/wave-accounting-review/
There’s no need to reinvent the Wheel!!
Is anyone using an OS accounting/invoicing package they like?
(FYI-There was a credit card processor a few years back who was trying to get listed on your site because they’d gone to the trouble of integrating w OE; they weren’t allowed to and now are no longer in business.)
Also, there are credit card processors who charge substantially LESS than Square, PayPal, etc, and they can be found at https://www.merchantmaverick.com/review-category/merchant-accounts/
Saving a half a percent per transaction may be substantial $$. The big cost is still the Interchange fees, but paying 2.3% instead of 3% is money in your pocket. ($700 on $100,000 worth of payments)
1 Like
Have you made any progress on this matter?
My bank does not offer Zelle for free. Which bank do you use?
Zelle doesn’t charge to receive $$ but apparently some banks do.
Zelle For Business: 2022 Guide To Fees, Setup & More has a list of banks that offer Zelle and a discussion. also Zelle Review: Pros, Cons, and More | The Ascent by Motley Fool has a discussion.
You probably have to search the bank websites to find out what limits they have and what charges if any.
Banks do love their charges.
I’m actually not using Zelle myself, because I got stalled. I got Covid back in December and haven’t had my normal energy since. Slowly getting better but still not 100%.
Security issue pt should know about–
IMO Zelle should only be used with an account with limited funds. That reduces the risk of getting hacked with Zelle withdrawals.
(I also have to clean up my bank accounts, but that’s another issue.)
For protection, remember the mantra: Hang up, Look Up, and Call Back. If you receive a call from someone warning about fraud, hang up. If you believe the call might be legitimate, look up the number of the organization supposedly calling you, and call them back.
Hint health has a commercial solution for subscription payments for $50-500+/mo.
I would check out your local credit unions and see which offer business accts w Zelle. Hope that helps.
2 Likes
Very interesting stuff, thanks for all the information.
I am sorry about your health problems. I hope you get better soon!