5 Features Orthodontists Look for in Payments Software

You Need a Payment Platform Designed for Easy Financial Management

Payments software is essential to your orthodontic practice but implementing it can seem like a losing fight. You may think it’s the nature of the business. You wanted to boost patients’ confidence with dazzling smiles befitting the Pretty Woman herself, and ornery payment processing is just a part of the reality you must accept.

Right?

Not if you make the right moves!

Just because other payment software options put you on the ropes doesn’t mean you should accept it as the standard. TopsPay, Tops’ latest addition to its suite of orthodontic management solutions, is a complete 180 from the notion that orthodontic payments are inherently stressful to handle.

It’s time to raise your standards.

Here’s what to look for in your orthodontic payments software and how TopsPay is the one-punch payment processing tool that exceeds your expectations.

1. Recurring Billing for Routine Payments

If you can’t touch your toes, that’s okay. You can still be flexible with your payments.

The demand for orthodontic services has made the industry more competitive, driving patients to look for the most affordable and flexible payment options to correct their smiles. If they make it to your practice and you can’t accommodate what they want, you’re pretty much slamming the door in their faces. Why so rude?

You can be much more welcoming with TopsPay, which allows you to customize patients’ payments to meet their financial needs. This flexibility benefits both patients and your practice. It adds predictability and consistency to your finances since patients won’t have to fuss over manual billing, which can lead to missed or late payments.

Manually posting payments means you’re just assuming the money will come, but you’re also causing payment delays and possibly making errors. Automating patient payments means you’re not shrugging your shoulders and taking a guess with your finances.

2. Proactive Payment Processing

If your practice had a pulse, payments are the aorta. With overhead costs rising due to inflation, finding ways to maximize your cash flow is critical to staying afloat. Because payments are integral to your practice, you want to ensure you’re set up to receive them on time. Otherwise, you’re in the ring blindfolded, taking every hit from missed or delayed payments. K-O.

It can be difficult to swing back with payment software that doesn’t give you any notice about payment issues. Or suffer the blows of a platform that doesn’t prevent it from happening in the first place.

TopsPay is your proactive payment partner. Since expiration dates are shown in advance, you can curb missed payments before they happen and update card information. You receive immediate notification of failed or declined payments and can track them to prevent them from happening again. Upcoming expiration dates also send alerts so you can update payment information before the card expires.

A proactive finance system pays your bills, automates administrative tasks, satisfies patients, and keeps you out of legal trouble. This way, you can throw the punches (metaphorically, of course).  

3. A User-Friendly Interface  

If navigating your payment system is so complicated that you worry pressing the wrong button may launch your practice into outer space, it's probably not the software for you. Turning your practice into a rocket ship isn't exactly priority number one (number twelve, maybe?), so you need an interface that won't cause catastrophic errors.

In fact, if you're even conscious of how difficult it is to operate your finance system, it's working against you.

A good user interface (UI) is simple, consistent, and intentional. It draws attention to the essential sections of the page. Overly complex and clunky designs slow down your practice when receiving payments, tracking processed payments, and monitoring financial metrics.

For patients, it's equally frustrating. If your patients' payment tool is difficult to understand, they dread using it. And if your patients are struggling to pay, you may damage your revenue and reputation. Struggling patients will negatively affect your practice because you're making things even more difficult for them when they already have enough problems on their own.

TopsPay, however, is incredibly easy to use. A simplified, user-friendly interface makes it easier to manage your finances and receive payments. You and your staff will appreciate being able to access patient and financial information in one place easily. And your patients will love navigating the app. Further, since TopsPay is customizable, you'll have payment software tailored to what you actually need, cutting out extra obstacles.

4. High-Security Data Defense

There are ways to cut corners in your practice, like asking your sales rep about freebies. However, you should never cut corners when protecting patient data, especially given the financial and reputational damage HIPAA fines can do to your practice.

Even if you’re already aware, it’s worth refreshing your memory: A Tier 1 violation runs from $100 to $50,000, and a Tier 4 violation can exceed $50,000.

Hackers pursue patient health records, and payment information is just as coveted. Using ill-equipped payment software to protect your data is like throwing a blanket over your patients’ records and walking away. With TopsPay, you get a way better alternative to the blanket strategy.

Extensive measures are taken to lock sensitive information away from unauthorized parties: a closely monitored cloud-based architecture, PCI compliance, and end-to-end encryption. TopsPay also runs on Apple hardware, well-known for its commitment to the highest level of security. You need better coverage than your favorite blanket in a world with increasingly complex and sophisticated data breaches.

5. Genuine Support from the Support Team

When you don’t know what to do, you need proper guidance to move forward and be your best. Perhaps you’ve experienced a day when things weren’t going well with your finance system, so you decided to call the company’s support team. After an absurdly long wait, you discovered that the person on the other line was only vaguely familiar with the orthodontics industry and doctor/staff needs. After going in circles to find a solution for what felt like hours, you started—very dizzily—doubting reality.

TopsPay’s customer service won’t put you on a trippy merry-go-round. The support team is knowledgeable, friendly, and always available to help you get the most out of your software. But here’s the real kicker: Since they’ve worked in orthodontic offices, they know what it’s like to be in your shoes. That means you won’t have to waste hours over-explaining your situation until you fall over.

When you commit to using Tops, you receive a customized 3-day training session to help your practice fully understand the software.

Ahh, isn’t genuinely helpful support such a nice change of pace?

Smile Everyday with Reliable Payment Processing Software

With everything that can go wrong with credit card and recurring payment processing, your practice can’t just choose payment software as it would a box of generic, one-size-fits-all gloves. That’s because orthodontic financial management is unique to your practice, so you need software that adapts to what you need, not the other way around.

With TopsPay, your practice gains the right tools to cut costs and be more efficient. You also benefit from high-level security, proactive payment processing, and a more user-friendly interface. Plus, a top-notch team supports you every step of the way.

With these advantages, we can’t think of a better way for your practice to handle its finances.