End of the month, the club invoice
Your clinic looks after players from the local rugby club, or staff from a nearby employer that pays for a set number of sessions per person. The patients book like anyone else. At the end of the month, somebody goes through the diary, finds everyone connected with the club, checks who was covered, works out which visits count, builds an invoice in Xero and emails it with a list of names and dates.
Then the club's treasurer queries two lines, because one player had left the squad and another's visit was for something unrelated to their sport.
Why club and employer billing is messy
The agreement lives in an email or a signed letter. It might cover only injuries sustained playing, only current squad members, a capped number of sessions per person, or a fixed monthly retainer plus a per-visit fee. None of that is captured at booking. Reception knows the patient is 'from the club', maybe, if they said so.
So the month-end task is detective work, reconstructing who was covered from memory and notes.
What the mess costs
| Issue | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Visits not tagged at booking | Missed from the invoice, so unpaid |
| Terms not checked | Visits billed to the club that should have been billed to the patient |
| Invoice built by hand | Time at month end and errors in names or dates |
| No per-person tally | Caps exceeded without anyone noticing |
| Queries from the payer | Slow payment while lines are defended |
How we set up third-party accounts
- Each club or employer becomes an account with its terms written as rules: who is eligible, what is covered, any cap per person, rates and billing frequency.
- The payer can supply an eligibility list, such as a squad list or staff list, which is updated when they send a new one.
- At booking, reception picks the account, and the system shows whether the patient is on the eligible list and how many sessions they have left.
- Visits that fall outside the terms are flagged at booking, so the patient knows before the appointment whether they will pay themselves.
- At month end, a statement is generated per account with dates, patient names or initials as agreed with the payer, and visit types.
- After a quick review, the invoice is created in Xero or QuickBooks and emailed with the statement attached.
- Payments are matched, and anything unpaid appears on an aged list.
What information you share with a third-party payer about a patient is a data protection decision for your clinic and your adviser, often requiring the patient's agreement. We build to whatever you decide, including showing only initials or reference numbers on statements.
The month end you get
It also makes it easier to offer these arrangements in the first place. When a new club or local employer asks what you could do for them, you can set up an account with its own terms in minutes rather than worrying about another month-end spreadsheet. Retainers, per-visit fees and caps can all be expressed as settings.
Invoices to clubs and employers are ready when the month closes, not three days later. Queries drop because eligibility and terms were checked at booking. Players and staff know upfront whether they are covered. And when the club asks at the end of the season how many sessions were used, the answer is a report, not an afternoon.
Does your clinic do this?
- You treat players or staff paid for by a club or employer.
- Invoices are built by searching the diary at month end.
- Payers query lines on the invoice.
- Session caps per person are tracked in someone's head.
- Patients are sometimes unsure whether a visit is covered.