How to Collect Copays Online (Before the Patient Walks In)

Most practices collect copays at the front desk, either before or after the visit. Both approaches have problems. Collecting before creates a bottleneck at check-in. Collecting after means patients leave without paying, and your staff spends hours on follow-up billing.

The better approach: collect copays online as part of the pre-visit intake process.

Why Collect Before the Visit

The economics are straightforward. Copay collection rates drop significantly the further you get from the appointment. At the front desk, collection rates are decent. After the visit, they fall. Once you're mailing a statement, you're spending money to collect money, and a meaningful percentage of those balances go uncollected.

Collecting copays digitally before the visit solves multiple problems at once:

• Higher collection rates. Patients who pay during intake complete the transaction when they're engaged and focused.
• Faster check-in. No card swiping at the front desk. No awkward conversations about payment. The patient has already paid.
• Less administrative overhead. Fewer statements to mail. Fewer accounts receivable entries to chase. Less staff time spent on billing follow-up.
• Better patient experience. Patients know exactly what they owe before they arrive. No surprises.

Designing the Payment Step

Online copay collection works best when it's integrated into the intake form, not as a separate process.

Place payment on the last page of intake. After the patient has completed demographics, insurance, and consent, the final step is payment. The flow feels natural: you've provided your information, now here's your copay.

Show the amount clearly. Display the copay amount prominently with a brief explanation: "Your copay for this visit is $35." Transparency builds trust.

Accept standard payment methods. Credit cards, debit cards, HSA/FSA cards. The more payment options you support, the fewer patients drop off. Apple Pay and Google Pay are increasingly expected.

Provide immediate confirmation. A receipt shown on screen and sent via email. Patients want proof of payment, and your staff needs a record.

Make it optional when necessary. Some copay amounts aren't known until insurance verification is complete. Build your form to handle this: collect payment when the amount is known, and flag patients for front-desk collection when it isn't.

The Stripe Integration Approach

For healthcare practices, Stripe is the most practical payment processing option. Here's why:

PCI compliance is handled. Stripe manages card data security. Patient credit card numbers never touch your servers. They go directly to Stripe's PCI-compliant infrastructure. This simplifies your compliance posture significantly.

Transparent pricing. Stripe's per-transaction fees are straightforward. No monthly gateway fees, no hidden charges.

HSA/FSA compatibility. Stripe processes health savings account and flexible spending account cards, which many patients prefer to use for medical copays.

Recurring payments. For practices that collect payments for ongoing treatment plans, Stripe supports saved payment methods and recurring billing.

When building your intake form, look for a platform that offers native Stripe integration, meaning the payment field lives inside the form itself, not on a separate page or redirect. Every extra click between "complete intake" and "payment confirmed" is a drop-off point.

Compliance Considerations

Collecting payments digitally in healthcare isn't complicated, but it does require attention to a few areas:

Keep payment data separate from PHI. Credit card numbers should be processed through PCI-compliant infrastructure (like Stripe), not stored alongside patient health information. A well-built form platform handles this separation automatically.

Provide receipts. Patients need documentation for their records, insurance claims, and HSA/FSA substantiation. Automated email receipts should be standard.

Transparency about fees. Be clear about what the patient is paying for. "Office visit copay" is clear. A generic "$35 charge" is not. Transparency reduces disputes and chargebacks.

Refund process. Have a clear, documented process for refunding overpayments. Copay amounts sometimes change after insurance processes the claim. Your staff should be able to issue refunds quickly.

Measuring the Impact

Track these numbers after implementing online copay collection:

• Pre-visit payment rate: What percentage of patients pay before arriving
• Days in accounts receivable: Should decrease noticeably
• Statement volume: Fewer mailed statements = direct cost savings
• Front-desk check-in time: Should drop measurably

Formisoft includes Stripe-powered payment fields that embed directly in your intake forms. Patients complete their information, sign consent, and pay their copay in a single flow. No redirects, no separate payment portals. Set it up at formisoft.com.