Patient payment plans

How do we let a patient see their share, choose a payment plan and pay on a secure screen before or after the service, with the plan written to billing?

Make the plan a screen the patient finishes in the moment. Callvu identifies the patient, prefills the balance or the estimate and the plans the policy allows for the amount (the terms, the installments, the interest-free period, the minimum), screens for financial assistance eligibility where the policy requires before a plan is offered, presents the plan terms in plain language, captures the acceptance and the payment details on a secure screen that keeps card data out of the call center, routes a plan outside the rules to patient financial services in the Decision Desk, and writes the plan with its schedule and the tokenized payment method to the billing system with the confirmation.

In scopeSimpleCallvu moves: prefill, decide, write back

Talk to an expert Try it in the sandbox

Last updated November 7, 2026.

The problem today

The patient agreed to a plan on the phone; the agent typed the card into the billing screen; the plan was never set up and the account went to collections.

Today, without Callvu

Patient balances are the fastest-growing receivable and the hardest to collect. A plan offered on a call is agreed verbally, keyed into a billing screen that may or may not create a schedule, with the card read aloud on a recorded line. The patient's next statement shows the full balance; the account ages to the agency; the complaint says a plan was agreed.

A payment plan is a contract with terms the hospital's policy sets (the amounts, the periods, no interest or disclosed interest, the consequence of a missed installment) and, for a nonprofit hospital, sits inside the financial assistance rules that require screening before collection action. The payment authorization must be captured in a way that keeps the contact center out of card data scope. The plan must live in the billing system, because the billing system sends the next statement.

The plan the patient accepts on a screen is the one billing can run.

How it runs

From the requestto the system of record.

A patient sees an estimate or a balance in the portal, on a statement, on a call or at check-in, and asks to pay over time. Callvu identifies them and opens the plan.

Patient or guarantor: Reviews the share, chooses the plan, accepts the terms and enters payment details on a secure screen.
Patient financial services: Sends the link on a call and decides plans outside the rules in the Decision Desk.
Callvu: Prefills, screens, presents the terms, captures acceptance and payment, routes and writes.

Prefill and screen
The accounts and balances or the estimate, the guarantor, prior plans and any pending claims are prefilled from the billing system; the policy's plans for the amount are listed (the term options, the installment, the interest-free terms, the minimum); where the policy requires it, the patient is offered the financial assistance screening first, and a likely eligible patient is routed to that process before a plan.
Present and accept
The chosen plan's terms are shown in plain language: each installment's date and amount, the total, any interest or fee disclosed as the law requires, the automatic payment on each date, the consequence of a missed installment and how to change the plan; the patient accepts on the secure screen.
Decide exceptions
A plan within the policy's rules proceeds by rule; a longer term, a lower installment, an account in collections or with a pending dispute, or a balance under financial assistance review goes to patient financial services in the Decision Desk with the account and only the allowed outcomes.
Capture payment and write back
The card or bank details and the recurring authorization are entered on a secure screen outside the agent's view and the recording, tokenized at capture; the plan with its schedule, the token and the authorization is written to the billing system, the first installment is taken or scheduled, the account is flagged as on a plan so statements and collection holds follow it, and the confirmation goes to the patient.

Where it ends: The patient accepted a plan whose terms they read, after assistance screening where the policy requires, with the payment details never touching an agent, and the billing system holds the schedule that drives the statements and the collection hold. The Decision Trace shows the screening, the plan rules and any decision; the Audit Trace shows the acceptance, the capture and the write with time.

Runtime enforcement

What is enforcedwhile the work runs.

The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.

Regulations

IRS 501(r) financial assistance and billing requirements (26 CFR 1.501(r)-4 to -6): A tax-exempt hospital must have a financial assistance policy, must make reasonable efforts to determine eligibility before engaging in extraordinary collection actions, and may not take such actions before 120 days from the first post-discharge statement; a payment plan offered to a patient who may be eligible for assistance should follow the screening, and the plan's terms must be consistent with the billing and collections policy.
Truth in Lending (Reg Z, 12 CFR 1026.2 and 1026.3) for plans with more than four installments or a finance charge: A payment plan payable in more than four installments or carrying a finance charge makes the hospital a creditor subject to the disclosure rules unless an exemption applies; interest-free plans with no finance charge and the written disclosures avoid the obligation, and the terms are stated on the acceptance screen.
PCI DSS and the NACHA rules for recurring debits: Card data entered by the patient on a secure, process-controlled screen keeps the contact center's agents, desktops and recordings out of the cardholder data environment, and a recurring bank debit requires a written or similarly authenticated authorization retained with the plan.

Company policies

Financial assistance screening comes before a plan where the policy requires it.
Card and bank details are entered by the patient on a secure screen, never read to an agent.
The plan's terms are accepted in writing before the first installment.
The billing system is the system of record for the plan, the schedule and the collection hold.

Controls

Prefill from the billing system with plan eligibility.
Assistance screening gate.
Plain-language terms and acceptance.
Secure, tokenized payment capture with authorization retention.
Decision Desk for exceptions.
Billing system write with the collection hold flag.

Clocks and deadlines

Installments: Each date on the schedule in the billing system.
Collection hold: The account is held from extraordinary collection actions while the plan performs, consistent with the 120-day rule.

Documents and checks

The accounts and the plan options
The screening result
The plan terms as accepted and the authorization
The billing system record and the confirmation

In the Decision Trace

The screening and the plan rules.
Any decision and the person.

In the Audit Trace

The acceptance with channel and time.
The payment capture (tokenized).
The write and the hold.

The handoff

Between the front doorand the back office.

The front door

The portal, a statement's link, a call with a link, or check-in; the patient finishes on a secure screen.

The back office

Patient financial services decides only exceptions; billing runs the schedule and the holds from the record.

The Decision Desk

A plan outside the policy's terms, an account in collections or dispute, or a balance under assistance review goes to patient financial services in the Decision Desk with the account and only the allowed outcomes.

Proof

In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.

The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.

23 hospitals in the Ministry of Health network run on Callvu.

Across Callvu customers

More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.

Across Callvu customers

Questions

What buyers ask next,answered plainly.

Is the patient screened for assistance first?

Where the policy requires it, yes: a patient likely eligible for financial assistance is routed to that process before a plan is offered, which is what the tax-exempt billing rules expect.

How is the card taken on a call?

The agent sends a link; the patient enters the details on a secure screen outside the agent's view and the recording, tokenized at capture.

What stops the account going to collections?

The plan in the billing system flags the account as on a plan, so statements and collection holds follow the schedule while it performs.

Related processes

Pre-service deposit and copay collection Financial assistance applications Patient cost estimates for insured patients Billing disputes Try it in the sandbox All healthcare processes

Bring this process, or the one that costs you most.

We build it against your policies and your systems, train your team and stay with you through launch. You are live in weeks.