For ISVs serving medical practices, surcharging can give customers another reason to use and stay with your payments offering.
In most states, a medical practice can add a surcharge to eligible credit card transactions, provided the fee is disclosed to the patient before payment.
This article covers what enabling surcharging requires from your ISV, how practices activate it, and which payments qualify.
What is surcharging?
A surcharge is a processing fee added to an eligible credit card transaction to help a practice recover the cost of accepting that card.
The patient sees the fee before completing the payment and can choose another accepted payment method if they prefer not to pay it.
What enabling surcharging requires from the ISV
NUMBER shares API documentation as well as sandbox access with your developers, so they can evaluate the integration before committing. We also handle the setup behind it, including:
- Confirming practice and location eligibility
- Providing the required compliance documentation
- Configuring the surcharge
- Excluding ineligible card types
- Managing applicable card network and platform requirements
For an ISV, the objective is to make surcharging available without turning activation into a major project for every practice that wants to use it.
How the practices you serve can activate surcharging
Practices using your software have a few steps to complete before surcharging goes live, including reviewing the required documentation, confirming how the surcharge will be disclosed, and preparing staff for patient questions.
The practice completes the required documentation and confirms its patient disclosure process, while NUMBER handles the payment configuration behind the feature.
Does enabling surcharging change the practice’s software contract?
No. Surcharging is a payment processing configuration and does not change the practice’s software terms.
Supporting patient communication during rollout
For ISVs, a few ready-to-use communication tools can help medical practices introduce surcharging consistently before it goes live. For instance:
Payment reminders
Practices can add a brief line to payment reminders or other pre-payment communications so patients know about the surcharge before they reach the payment screen or front desk.
Staff talking points
A simple explanation of when the surcharge applies and which payment options are applicable gives staff a consistent way to answer patient questions.
Which payments qualify for surcharging?
In most states, a medical practice can add a surcharge to eligible credit card transactions, provided the fee is disclosed to the patient before payment. The surcharge applies to credit cards only, which means debit, HSA, and FSA transactions aren’t eligible.
Because healthcare practices often receive patient payments through debit, HSA, and FSA cards, only part of total card volume may be eligible.
This is useful context for ISVs to establish early with clients. Practices should evaluate surcharging based on their credit card volume, rather than assuming it applies to every card payment running through your software.
What could a medical practice offset?
The potential savings depend on each practice’s credit card volume.
To help a practice estimate it, start with its monthly credit card volume and leave out debit, HSA, and FSA transactions.
For example, if a practice processes $20,000 in card payments each month and $12,000 of that is credit, the potential surcharge offset is based on the $12,000.
Some patients may choose debit, cash, or check instead, which also reduces the credit card processing cost on those payments.
For ISVs, the goal is simply to help practices understand what portion of their payment volume is eligible before they turn surcharging on.
What your ISV team should be ready to explain
You don’t need to turn your sales or support team into surcharging experts, but a few questions tend to come up when practices consider surcharging. ISV sales and support teams can cover the basics, while NUMBER handles eligibility and setup details.
Is surcharging available everywhere?
Surcharging is permitted in most states, with requirements that vary by location. Eligibility for each practice is confirmed during setup.
How is the amount determined?
Card network rules cap what a practice can charge, and state requirements can lower it further. The specific amount is set during setup based on those limits and the practice’s cost of accepting the card.
What if a patient does not want to pay the surcharge?
The patient can choose another accepted payment method, such as debit, cash, or check, and avoid the surcharge. Every NUMBER surcharging integration also gives practices the option to waive the surcharge for an individual transaction.
So, does surcharging make sense for your platform?
If the practices using your software are asking about surcharging, consider two questions: would it strengthen your payments offering, and can your current payments partner support it within your existing integration?
The value varies by payment mix – a practice heavy on HSA and FSA volume has less to gain than one running mostly credit. But the experience shouldn’t vary. Practices understand what qualifies, complete the documentation, and confirm disclosure before surcharging goes live. NUMBER handles eligibility, configuration, compliance documentation, and the payment infrastructure behind it.
If surcharging is coming up with your practices and your current setup can’t support it, that’s a conversation worth having. Contact our team today to discuss available options for your platform.
