Practices pay card fees three times on the same patient: the copay at check-in, the balance at checkout, and the statement payment weeks later. The fees are usually set by whoever sold the practice management software’s built-in processing, and nobody has looked at them since. This page is the Clover setup for the front desk and how it fits with the software you already run.
The setup
| Position | Device | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Front desk | Clover Mini, screen toward the patient | Copays, checkout balances, tap, dual pricing display |
| Treatment rooms, hygiene, consult | Flex | Treatment plan deposits, room checkout |
| Curbside, parking lot (veterinary) | Flex on LTE | Payment at the car |
| Balances after adjudication | Virtual terminal with stored cards (Essentials plan) | Charge on file with consent |
| Statements and pay links | Dedicated invoicing tool alongside Clover, or the practice software’s portal | Patient pays from a text or email |
Hardware placed at no charge for qualifying practices. The Essentials plan at $14.95 a month covers a front desk; Payments at $0 if you only need the terminal.
Working with practice management software
Most practice systems (dental, medical, veterinary, chiropractic, optometry) have a built-in payments option, often powered by an integrated processor such as Global Payments Integrated or a bank product. Three ways to run a practice:
- Built-in processing only. Simplest posting. Pricing is whatever the software’s processor set, and it is worth reviewing; effective rates over 3% are common.
- Clover at the desk plus built-in for portal payments. Card-present copays and checkouts on Clover at a better rate or dual pricing; online statement payments through the software. Two reconciliations, one of them small.
- Clover plus a pay-link tool. Clover at the desk, a text-to-pay or invoicing tool for statements, both on interchange-plus, posted to the ledger by the front desk.
We look at the software and the current statement before recommending one. If the built-in processor will re-price fairly, option one is fine.
HSA, FSA and payment plans
HSA and FSA cards are accepted like any debit card. Itemized receipts from Clover (procedure line items or a simple description) help patients with substantiation. Payment plans for larger treatment: stored card in the customer profile, charged on the agreed schedule through the virtual terminal, or a recurring plan through an invoicing tool.
Stored cards and consent
Card-on-file is standard in practices: the patient consents in writing at intake, the card is tokenized in Clover, and the balance after insurance is charged with a receipt emailed. Never store card numbers on paper or in the practice software’s notes field; the token is the only compliant copy. The PCI side is on hosted pages, tokenization and PCI.
Dual pricing at the desk
The fee schedule lists cash prices; a line states card prices are a set percentage higher; the Mini shows both totals before the patient taps. Applies to the patient’s payment, whatever the insurance math. Some practices prefer a single price on interchange-plus for simplicity with patients; we quote both, and interchange-plus for a practice’s card mix typically lands around 2.0% to 2.3% all-in against the 3% and up many practices pay today. The rules are on dual pricing on Clover.
Cost
Mini and Flex placed. Essentials plan $14.95 a month, or Payments $0. Processing $0 under dual pricing or interchange-plus. Month to month, fee schedule on one page. A practice taking $60,000 a month in patient card payments at 3% is paying $1,800 a month; the comparison is on the Clover pricing page.