With a patient's consent, Dentrix Pay allows you to save the patient's credit card information — for future office payments — without having to process a payment. Additionally, the saved card can be used to process payments for any member in the patient's Family File.
Watch this video to learn how to save a credit card without processing a patient's payment. (Duration 1:35)
Key Information
When saving a credit card for the first time (without posting a payment), the card must be validated by processing a $2.00 preauthorization. The preauthorization will submit the card's information and place a "hold" on the card for $2.00. The practice will not receive a deposit for this preauthorization, and the hold will be removed within 3 to 5 business days, at which time the $2.00 will be available for the cardholder to use. (It's good practice to inform your patients about the hold, that your practice does not receive the $2.00, and that the hold will be removed within 3 to 5 business days.)
While waiting for the hold to lift, the card can be used for Dentrix Pay payments, as the validation is immediate, but the hold takes 3 to 5 days to be lifted.
Once the card has been validated, an "electronic token" is returned to Dentrix and is stored in the Dentrix database. This token links the saved card in Dentrix to the card's data that's kept at Worldpay. Only the last four digits of the card, the type of card, and the expiration date are stored in your Dentrix database.
If you wish, you can print a paper copy of the consent form and have the patient, or their representative, sign that form. Or, you can have the patient electronically sign the consent form later by clicking View Consent in the Saved Credit Cards window and having the patient electronically sign the form.
A signature is not required for consent; however, it's good practice to have the patient (or a representative) sign the Credit Card on File Consent form as proof of consent. Regardless, if the patient does not sign the consent, you must still click OK to save the unsigned consent form; otherwise, the card's information will not be saved in Dentrix Pay. This is also true if you don't have electronic signatures enabled in Dentrix Pay.
The language of the consent form cannot be altered; however, you can add notes to the form before it is signed by clicking Additional Notes (in the Credit Card on File Consent window). However, once a consent form is signed, you cannot alter, resign, or add notes to it.
When a credit card is saved, the Process Card button (in the Enter Payment window) becomes a drop-down menu item that includes the saved card as a payment option for any member of the patient's Family File.
You can use a saved card to post a payment to a patient's payment agreement via the patient's payment agreement or the Payment Agreement Manager. You can also assign a credit card to a payment agreement, and that card will be used to post payments in the Payment Agreement Manager. (For help with adding cards to payment agreements, refer to the quick start guide, Posting to Payment Agreements with Saved Credit Cards.)
A debit card can be saved using the Add option in the Saved Credit Cards window. However, the card will be treated as a credit card, and your office will not be prompted to enter a pin code when processing payments with it.
