Re: Accepting Credit Cards -- is it worth it

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RE Credit cards as a merchant

Hope I'm not redundant here, but I learned this the hard way...

1) Patients usually more willing to pay and beats a bounced check.

2) Visa/Mastercharge only 2% or less as the bank is loaning the money to the pt; discover and amex are much pricey-er, so consider not taking these.

3) They pay you RIGHT AWAY; so the credit card payment by the pt goes right into the account within 2 days. The CREDIT CARD company "takes the risk" of nonpayment, NOT you, and you end up paying alittle more for that.

4) Try (unlike me) to "buy" the machine or get it "free"; the local bank really hit me up for 3 years' lease to buy up front over 3 years and I got soaked.

I would do this, absolutely.

Matt Levin, MD

Solo FP

Western PA

Re: Accepting Credit Cards

We have a paypal account for patients that want to pay online. We use the merchant account through our clearinghouse ( gateway edi ) which has rates competitive to Costco and we are considering using their portal that allows patients to view and pay their invoices online, presumably using our existing merchant account.

With more and more people moving to HSA accounts, takin plastic is a necessary evil.

I am setting up an IMP practice soon. Wondering how folks accept plastic. I am attracted by Google and Pay Pal- well established and relatively inexpensive 1.9-2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. TheSiteWizard reports that Pay Pal is easy to set up.Square.com also appeals at 2.75% per swipe using a smart phone.Unsure how to best integrate any payment system in practice and accounting software.