TSYS - Online Patient Payments
- Dylan Nigh
In MacPractice 12.21, we have upgraded our TSYS Integration to include a new feature allowing your office to provide a secure method for patients to pay their bill online. This article covers the basics of this feature.Â
You must be running MacPractice Build 12.21 or higher, and you must have the Global Payments/TSYS Integration purchased on your license. You will also need the Patient Portal added to your license, and have a Domain registered via Domain Management.
Please contact MacPractice Sales for further details.
Set Up Steps
The first thing you'll need to do when you have finished installing the new MacPractice build is to access the MacPractice Admin Portal. You can do this via the MacPractice Menu > MacPractice Admin Portal, as shown in the below image.
This will bring up the Online Payment Terms of Service.
Terms of Service
The Terms of Service allows an office to set an agreement that a patient would have to accept before being able to make a payment via the Portal.
The drop down menu allows you to select a previously created Terms of Service, or to create a new one.
You can have multiple agreements, but only one may be Active at any given point. You can toggle which set of Terms of Service are Active by clicking the Active checkbox.
If no Terms of Service is activated and a patient attempts to access the Online Payment Portal, they will see this message:
MacPractice Support cannot assist with the creation or selection of appropriate Terms of Service for your office, as local and regional laws may differ, causing any template we could provide to be ineffective or inaccurate. The office will want to consult with a lawyer or other resources to address this need.
New Preferences
We've added a new preference tab in TSYS Preferences, located in the MacPractice Menu > Preferences > Card Processing. Inside the tab, there's an option to set a Default Payment Type to be used for Online Patient Payments.
We strongly recommend creating a new Payment Type in References > Payment Types that can be specifically used for Online Patient Payments. This will help keep things organized in your reports. You can read more about Payment Types here.
Adding Portal User Access
Before a Portal User can make Online Patient Payments, we'll need to grant Account Access to that Portal User. In 12.21 and up, whenever a new Portal User is created, the MacPractice user will be prompted whether they want to grant this Portal User Account Access:
For already existing Portal Users, you can grant them Account Access by navigating to the Patients Ability > Account Tab. Below the Provider and Office fields, you'll notice the table "Portal Users with Access to Patients In This Account", that lists all the Portal Users added to this Account.
You can grant access by clicking the Billing Access checkbox for the Portal User in question in the Access Online Billing Column, as shown in the below screenshot.
Alternately, you can also adjust who a Portal User can access by navigating to the References Ability > Patient Portal Users node, and adding them into the appropriate tables, as shown in the following screenshot:
You can read more about Portal Users here.
Update Portal User Online Billing Access Database Utility
This works for individual accounts, but what if you've got several Portal Users you want to grant Account Access to? Â We've also added a new Database Utility in the Managers Ability, the "Update Portal User Online Billing Access" utility. This will allow you to grant or revoke access to all Portal Users with access to an Account.
As a reminder, we strongly recommend making a backup of your MacPractice database prior to using any Database Utility.
Managing Payments
When a Portal User makes a payment, the payment will automatically be posted to the Account's ledger, using the Default Payment Type set in the new TSYS Preference. These will be posted with the code "Online Payment".
These payments cannot be voided or refunded on the Portal. A patient will need to reach out to the office to get these payments refunded or voided if necessary.
As with prior iterations of the TSYS Integration, Online Payments can be voided if done on the same day as the payment was made by double clicking the payment and clicking the Void Transaction... button. Past this timeframe, you will be unable to Void a Transaction and must instead issue a refund.
Transaction Log and Report Changes
In the Transaction Log, we've made a few changes to accommodate Online Patient Payments. In the Entry Method column, we've added a new Online Payment type to better distinguish Online Payment transactions.
We've also adjusted the drop down filter to include an option to only display Online Payments.
In Reports that deal with payments, such as the Day Sheet reports, you can identify Online Payments as such for relevant transactions. These will also show as Online Payments.
Patient Payment Workflow
The patient can access the Patient Portal by following the URL to the domain. This URL is typically https://<OfficeDomain>.com/PatientPortal. For example, if we had a domain called "MacPracticeSupport", the URL would read https://macpracticesupport.com/PatientPortal.Â
Once they reach this URL, they'll be presented with a log in screen. This is where they will enter the Username and Password for their Portal User.
Once the Portal User has logged in, they'll be presented with a simple page with an Account drop down selector, which will present all the Accounts this Portal User has access to.
If the Portal User does not have access to an account or patient, they'll see this screen:
There will also be a payment amount field, and a checkbox to indicate the Portal User has read and agreed to the office's Online Payment Terms of Service as defined earlier in this article. These must be accepted every time a payment is made.
Once they've clicked Next, they'll be taken to the Card Selection page, where they can select any card that's currently on file for the Account in their Wallet.Â
They can also click the "Use a Different Card" button to enter the details of a new card. The Card Number, CVV, and expiration date are all required fields to process the payment. The patient can also set this new card as the Default option for the next time a payment is made, or uncheck the Save Card Information if they would prefer not have a card on file.
Clicking Next will take them to an Address Verification window to verify the Cardholder Information such as the Name on Card, Billing Address and Zip Code.
The last window to appear is a confirmation page where the payment amount, the selected card, and the Cardholder Information on the prior window. If everything looks okay, the patient can click Submit Payment.
This processing payment window will appear, indicating the payment is currently being processed.Â
Once the payment has been processed, they will receive a confirmation page, which they can then print or download at their leisure by clicking the indicated button.
