Our patient exemption features allow you to remove the payment method requirement for eligible patients when they book online or directly through your practice reception team. Some examples of patients you may want to exempt are those who are bulk billed, have a concession card, are elderly or are long-standing regular patients.
 

By exempting certain patients, you can:

• Provide a better booking experience for patients by eliminating unnecessary steps and barriers to booking
• Reduce incoming calls to your reception team
• Ensure healthcare accessibility for patients who may not have a valid payment method, are anxious about adding one, or experience financial hardship
• Build stronger patient relationships by demonstrating flexibility and understanding, fostering loyalty and confidence in the practice’s commitment to personalised care

Follow these steps to set up individual patient or bulk billing exemptions at your practice.
 

How to add an individual patient exemption

You can exempt individuals from providing a payment method when booking online or directly at your clinic in your Dashboard by searching for a patient in Patients > Patient Search and enabling the Payment Exemptions setting in the Payments tab.

Video instructions

Follow the steps

1. In the Dashboard, navigate to Patients > Patient Search. You can also access this from the Payments > Payment Setup page by clicking the link under the Payment Exemptions section.
    

   Example of accessing from the Patients > Patient Search tab	Example of accessing from the Payments > Payment Setup tab

    

2. Enter the name of the patient you wish to exempt before clicking Search.

   
    

3. You will then see a list of patients matching your search. Click View next to the patient with the matching details.
   
   
    
4. In the patient page, click the Payments tab.
   
   
    
5. Under Payment Exemptions, check the box next to Exempt patient from adding a payment method.
   
   
    
6. A confirmation pop-up will appear. Click Yes to confirm.
   Note: If you exempt a patient, this will apply to all clinics sharing your practice management software database.
   
   
    
7. You will then see a confirmation modal appear and the check box will be ticked.
   The last confirmed date and time will indicate when this setting was applied.
   
   
    

How to set up patient exemptions by age or concession cards at your practice

You can customise your payment settings so that patients can be exempt from adding a payment method based upon their age or concession card status. This can be set up by selecting Bulk Billing Available in your Practice Profile settings and adding these exemptions.
 

Video instructions

Follow the steps

Follow the steps below to select your payment exemption criteria:

1. Navigate to Payments > Payment Setup > Accounts, and scroll down to the Bulk Billing Payment Exemption section.
    

   
    

2. This is what you will see based on the current billing criteria selected in your Practice Profile. To edit this, click the Setup > Practice Profile hyperlink or the blue edit icon, as highlighted below:
    

   Please note: These will take you to your Practice Profile settings, which you can also access by clicking Setup > Practice Profile on the left side menu of your Dashboard.
    

3. Scroll down to the Billing Information section and under the Billing field, choose Bulk Billing Available:
   
   
   Please note: exemptions will not work if this is set to 100% Bulk Bill or Private Billing.
    

4. Select your bulk billing criteria by ticking the relevant checkboxes and setting an age, then click Save:
   
   
    

   This information will also be displayed on your Bookings page.   Please note: Information in the 'Further Information (Bulk Billing)' section does not affect payment settings.

    

5. Go back to Payments > Payment Setup > Accounts > Bulk Billing Payment Exemption and tick the box next to Exempt payment for bulk billed patients. Click Save to enable this feature:
   
   
    
6. When a patient books an appointment online or through your practice, the following criteria will be applied based on your settings:
   • Age exemptions are determined by:
     • Online bookings: The patient's DOB in their HotDoc account. They will not see a question.
     • Practice/reception bookings: The patient's DOB in their patient file within your practice management system.
        
   • Concession cards are determined by:
     • Online bookings: Patients will be asked if they have a concession card in the booking flow. If the patient selects a card, they will be exempt. If they select None of the above, they will be asked to add a payment method. For more information, please see: Payments – The Patient Journey
       
       
        
     • Practice/reception bookings: Only the age exemption settings will apply for these appointments, not concession cards.
        

How to view if a patient has been exempt from adding a payment method

Once a patient books an appointment, we will show whether they were exempt from adding a payment method in Bookings > Booking History in your Dashboard, and as a note on the patient's appointment in your appointment book.

1. In the Bookings > Booking History section of your Dashboard, you can see if a patient has been exempt from adding a payment method if the Payment Status column says Card Details Exempt. Clicking on the appointment will show you one of the following reasons based upon your settings:

   • Individual patient exemption
   • Patient age (bulk billing exemption criteria)
   • Concession card (bulk billing exemption criteria)

   
    

2. In the appointment book in your practice software, this will also appear as a note on their appointment and in the details section.
    

   Example of exemptions as a note in the Best Practice appointment book and appointment details	Example of exemptions as a note in the Medical Director appointment book and appointment details	Example of an exemption as a note in the Zedmed appointment book and appointment details