HotDoc Payments offers a flexible solution to suit your payment needs. There are a few different patient journeys that may occur, depending on how the payment or card details have been requested. This includes: 

• Payment/pre-authorisation for online booked appointments
• Payment/pre-authorisation for practice booked appointments
• Manual payment requests for any upcoming appointments
• Payment requests for immediate charge. 

This article will outline the patient's journey for each unique payment workflow and include some frequently asked questions about a patient's payment. 

Payment for online booked appointments

1. On your HotDoc bookings page the patient will select a practitioner, appointment type and time/date. 
   
   
   
   

    

   • If you have either Bulk Billing exemptions or individual exemptions, then your patients will be screened by your criteria:

     • If a patient is exempt they will skip adding a payment method and go to Step 5.
     • All other patients must provide card details, as explained in Step 3.
   • 
     
     

2. HotDoc provides the patient with the appointment cost you've set. Patients must add or select a payment method.

   - If pre-authorisations are enabled, patients will see there will be an upfront temporary hold. 

   - If stored card settings are enabled, patients will see they need to add their card to secure the appointment. 

   Pre-authorisation settings enabled: Example if the practice is passing the fee on to the patient	Pre-authorisation settings enabled: Example if the practice is absorbing the processing fee
   Stored card settings enabled: Example if the practice is passing the fee on to the patient	Stored card settings enabled: Example if the practice is absorbing the processing fee

3. If they select "New payment method", they will be asked to provide their card details to be able to continue with the booking.
   
   
   •  If this is their first time adding a card, they may be promoted to authenticate the request with their bank, the following screen will appear and they will need to follow their banking institutes chosen authentication method:
     

     ⓘ Please note

     The patient won't be able to proceed to the next booking step until they provide a valid payment method.

     
     
4. Once they have added their payment method, the patient will be prompted to confirm if the appointment details are correct by selecting Yes, book. 
   
   
   
   
5. They will then be taken to an appointment confirmation screen. 
   
   
   
   
6. The patient will receive the appointment confirmation email and can see the appointment details in their HotDoc account.
   - If pre-authorisations are enabled, the funds will be held for 7 days and they will see this in their email and HotDoc app. 
   
   

   Pre-authorisation settings enabled: Confirmation email of pre-authorisation received	Pre-authorisation settings enabled: Confirmation of appointment in patient app
   Stored card settings enabled Confirmation of appointment in patient app

   
   
7. Once the patient has been seen for the appointment, you can collect the payment following the instructions in this article How to collect a payment for a patient's appointment. 
   
   
8. The patient will receive an email once funds have been collected by your clinic and payment is complete. If the fee is passed on, a breakdown will be included:
   
   

   Example if the practice is passing the fee on to the patient	Example if the practice is absorbing the processing fee

Payment for Patient Payment Preferences

1. When a patient is booking online and they book for an appointment that does not have payments enabled, they will see the option to add a payment method for their booking. They will also see a link to your website practice fees if you linked this in your Dashboard settings.
   
   

2. The patient will then select their existing stored card, add a new payment method, or choose to ‘pay manually at reception’:
   
   

3. The patient will proceed to book their appointment, and in their Appointment History in their HotDoc account, they will see that their selected payment method will be charged via HotDoc after the consult "Automatic pay after consult"
   
   

Payment for practice booked appointments

• Auto cancel appointment setting enabled
• Auto cancel appointment setting disabled 
  
  

Auto cancel appointment setting enabled

This patient journey occurs when payment is set up for practice booked appointments and auto cancellation is enabled when patient's don't add their card details within 90 minutes. To set this up, please see How to setup automatic payment requests for appointments

Auto cancel appointment setting disabled 

This patient journey occurs when payment is set up for practice booked appointments and auto cancellation settings are disabled. To set up or edit settings, please see How to setup automatic payment requests for appointments

1. Once HotDoc syncs the appointment, we'll send a request to the patient (via SMS, email, and push notification if possible) to add a payment method. The two examples below show whether you have enabled pre-authorisations or stored card details:
   
   

   SMS:	Push Notification:	Email:
   SMS SMS sender may be your practice's name, a shortened version or a mobile number.	Push Notification	Email
   Pre-authorisation settings enabled Click to enlarge image
   Stored card settings enabled Click to enlarge image

   
   

   ⓘ Please note

   If you've added Bulk Billing exemption settings and the patient meets the criteria, or you've individually exempted a patient, the won't receive a card details request. For more information see: How to exempt a patient from adding a payment method for their appointment

   
   
   
2. If the patient is not logged in to their account, they will need to click Continue in the next screen and then add their login details or create a HotDoc account:
   
   

   When they click on the link, the patient will be asked to log in to their existing account or create a new one

   Once they click Continue, they can choose to log in if they already have an account or create one

   If they don't have one, they can add their details and click Create account

   
   

3. Once logged in, the patient will see their upcoming appointment with a message advising payment method is required. They will then click "Select a Payment Method"

   Pre-authorisation settings enabled Example if passing the fee on to the patient	Pre-authorisation settings enabled Example if the absorbing the processing fee
   Stored card settings enabled Example if passing the fee on to the patient	Stored card settings enabled Example if the absorbing the processing fee

   
   
4. If the patient’s card is stored, they can select it; otherwise, they’ll be prompted to add card details (name, email, card number, expiry, CVV). If the details are incorrect or invalid, they'll be asked to re-enter them.
   
   
   
   •  If this is their first time adding a card, they may be promoted to authenticate the request with their bank, the following screen will appear and they will need to follow their banking institutes chosen authentication method:
     
5. The patient will then be taken back to their Appointment view and shown that the appointment has been confirmed.
   
   

   Pre-authorisation settings enabled	Stored card settings enabled

   
   
   
6. Once the patient has been seen for the appointment, you can collect the payment following the instructions in this article How to collect a payment for a patient's appointment. 
   
   
7. The patient will then receive an email once their funds have been collected by your clinic, informing them the payment has been complete:
   
   

   Example if the practice is passing the fee on to the patient	Example if the practice is absorbing the processing fee

   
   

Manual card detail request for upcoming appointment 

The following patient journey occurs when you have performed a manual request for patients card details for their upcoming appointment booked via HotDoc or through the Practice directly. To see the practice journey for this request, please see How to manually request patient card details for an upcoming appointment.

Note: We will not cancel the patients appointment if they do not enter their card details.

1. Once you have sent the manual request, we will send a request to the patient via  SMS & email (if both are available) plus a push notification will also be sent if possible to ask that they click a link to add their card details.
   
   

   SMS:	Push Notification:	Email:
   SMS The sender of the SMS may be listed as your practice's name, a shortened version or a mobile number.	Push Notification	Email
   Click image to enlarge

   
   
2. Next, the patient will be directed to create a HotDoc account, or Login to their existing account. 
   
   
   
   
3. Once logged in, the patient will be shown their upcoming appointment along with a message advising that a payment method is required to secure their appointment. The patient will click Select a Payment method.
   
   

   Example if the practice is passing the fee on to the patient	Example if the practice is absorbing the processing fee

   
   
   
4. If the patient’s card is stored, they can select it; otherwise, they’ll be prompted to add card details (name, email, card number, expiry, CVV) and press Save. If the details are incorrect or invalid, they'll be asked to re-enter them.
   
   
   
   •  If this is their first time adding a card, they may be promoted to authenticate the request with their bank, the following screen will appear and they will need to follow their banking institutes chosen authentication method:
     
5. The patient will then be taken back to their Current Appointments and shown that the appointment has been confirmed.
   
   
   
   
6. Once the patient has been seen for the appointment, you can collect the payment following the instructions in this article How to collect a payment for a patient's appointment. 
   
   
7. The patient will then receive an email once their funds have been collected by your clinic, informing them the payment has been complete:
   
   
   

   Example if the practice is passing the fee on to the patient	Example if the practice is absorbing the processing fee

Payment Request for immediate charge/Debt Prevention

The following patient journey occurs when you send a payment request for immediate charge in the Payments > Payment Request section of the Dashboard, or for any automatic Debt Prevention(BP Only) requests sent.

To see the clinic journey for manual payment requests, please see How to create, refund or cancel a HotDoc 'Payment Request'. 
To see the clinic journey for Debt Prevention(BP Only) requests, please see How to enable Debt Prevention (automatic invoice collection of overdue payments)*

1. The patient will then receive a message with a link to pay via the following channels: 
   
   
   • Push notification sent to the HotDoc app - If the patient does not complete the payment request, we'll send an SMS 2 hours later*
   • Email sent to the email address in the patients file - (If we're unable to send a push notification), and if the patient does not complete the payment request, send SMS 2 hours later*
   • SMS sent to the mobile number in the patients file - If we cannot contact the patient via push notification or email.
   
   
   

   Push Notification	Email	SMS

   
   
   
2. Next, the patient will need to enter their email address and select Pay:
   
   

   Example if the practice is passing the fee on to the patient	Example if the practice is absorbing the processing fee

   
   
3. The patient will then be required to their card number, CVC, expiry
   and select Pay
   
   

   Desktop Example	Mobile Example

   
   
   
4. The payment will be confirmed and the patient will be provided a receipt of payment via email. 
   

Patient payment FAQs  

What if the patient cancels their appointment or does not attend?

If the patient successfully cancels their appointment, HotDoc will remove the option to collect payment for this appointment from the Dashboard. 
If a patient does not attend their booking and has been marked as a 'no show', the practice can choose to collect this fee or cancel this . 

What if the patient's payment method is rejected?

If the payment method is declined, we will send the patient a SMS informing them to add a new payment method. If the payment method has insufficient funds, we will send the patient a SMS informing them to either add funds or use a new card.

HotDoc will then try the charge again 24 hours after the first charge. If we are unable to take the funds at that point, the practice will receive an email informing them of the unpaid appointment so they can phone the patient directly.

How are refunds handled?

When a refund is processed, the funds can take up to 5 business days to appear back on the patient's payment method. If you are refunding a payment that has already been captured by the processor, the processing fees will not be refunded to you.

To refund a patient after payment has been captured by HotDoc, please see How do I refund a HotDoc Payment to the patient? We will send the patient an email advising their refund is being processed and to expect the funds within 5 business days.

How does a patient claim their Medicare rebate? 

For mixed billing or private billing, we recommend that you charge the patient for the full amount of the appointment upfront and then send the claim electronically to Medicare using your clinical software. Please follow the steps in this article to see how to do this: How should we process a patients Medicare Rebate for appointments paid for via HotDoc?