Wiki Surcharges for using credit/debit and/or healthcare savings card

debraj

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My physician wants to start adding a surcharge fee for patients using their credit/debit and healthcare savings card; does anyone do this? And if you do, what reaction do you get from the patients?
 
My physician wants to start adding a surcharge fee for patients using their credit/debit and healthcare savings card; does anyone do this? And if you do, what reaction do you get from the patients?

Credit card fees are a cost of doing business. For patient of the plans your provider participates with, you can't charge patients for this any more than you can charge them for the taxes you pay or for any other overhead office expenses - you can only charge for the amounts that the payer designates as patient share. For patients without insurance or not in your participating plans, your provider is free to set the charges as he or she sees fit, but I think it goes without saying that the reaction from patients will not be a positive one. If your physician tries this, it is sure to generate complaints and potentially cause loss of business. If you provider is not happy with the fees the credit cards impose, my suggestions is that they simply refuse to accept credit card payments, though this inconvenience will also likely make many patients unhappy. In one practice I worked for, the providers refused to accept American Express cards because the fees were higher than other credit cards. Just this alone generated many complaints from patients, though most were willing to overlook it and make their payments with an alternate card.
 
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Thanks for the response-I agree with you-he already charges for missed appointments, late cancellations and prescription refills all to which we get patient complaints and have lost some patients over those charges. I'd rather take card transactions over checks because we have problems with bounced checks.
 
I'd like to re-open this topic. Is anyone currently charging patients for these credit card transaction fees? We're seeing more local businesses doing this post-COVID. Thanks for any feedback you can provide about what works or doesn't work with this process. Pros/Cons appreciated.

Happy Friday!
Deb
 
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