Take payments and close the day in Gale

Take a payment at the desk

Take a payment on the appointment itself. Open the visit on the Calendar and use the Billing section of its flyout: Add payment records cash, a check or a card you ran on your own terminal, and Charge card charges the card the client saved. Chat points you to the right place, but it never charges or records money for you.

In chat, type "How do I take payments at the front desk?" Gale says your front desk takes payments on the appointment once Can take payments at check-in is on, with an Open Daily close link.

On the screen, open the appointment on the Calendar and find Billing. With an invoice there, press Add payment, choose Cash, Check, External card or Online card on file, and press Add $X payment, or Charge $X for a card. With no invoice yet, Create Invoice and Add Payment makes one without sending the client anything, then opens the same form. The flyout says what happened, such as "Payment recorded: cash $25.00."

In the Gale layout, open Billing. Unpaid invoices lists what each client owes, and Add payment records cash or a check. Clients pay by card on their own invoice.

To find the day's payments, type "Where do I see today's payments?" Classic points you to Transactions, and the Gale layout to Payouts on Billing.

Let your front desk take payments

A front desk member, a Scheduler, takes payments only once the owner turns on Can take payments at check-in for them. With it on, they see Add payment in a visit's Billing section once it has an unpaid invoice, and Charge card when the client's saved card can be charged, but never Create invoice. Chat opens the switch for you. You turn it on yourself.

In chat, type "Let Sam take payments at the desk", with your front desk's name in place of Sam. Gale answers with a Ready to review card, such as Let Sam Ortiz take payments at check-in. Tap Open team member: Edit team member opens on Can take payments at check-in. Turn it on and press Save access.

On the screen, open Settings > Team, choose the person and use the same switch. In the Gale layout, the team is under Team members & roles in Settings.

Charge missed-appointment and late-cancel fees

Missed appointment fees are off until the owner sets them. Set a Late cancellation fee, a No-show fee or both, from $1 to $1,000, and turn them on. After that, a visit marked No show or Late canceled offers Create fee invoice. Making the invoice charges no card and sends nothing.

In chat, type "Turn on no-show fees". Gale answers that the fees live in Settings > Services and products, with a Missed appointment fees link. In Classic, tap it, enter one or both amounts and press Turn on. Chat never switches fees on.

On the screen, open Settings > Services and products and find Missed appointment fees. In the Gale layout, the same card is on the Fee schedule page, through Edit rate card in Settings.

To bill a fee, open the visit on the Calendar, set its status to No show or Late canceled, and press Create fee invoice. Then collect it under Billing with Add payment or Charge card. A Medicaid or Medicare client is never charged one. While fees are on, your Financial policy names them at check-in, and a saved card is charged for a fee only after the client agrees to the current policy.

Refund a card payment

Refund a card payment from its payment details on the Transactions page in Billing. Gale sends all or part of it back to the original card, never more than is left on the payment, and lowers the invoice by the same amount. Chat shows you where the payment is, but money goes back only when you press Refund.

In chat, type "Where do I see today's payments?" In Classic, tap Open Transactions. Press View payment details on the payment, then Refund. Enter the amount and press Refund $X. Gale may ask you to sign in again. Tick Client still owes this only if the client should still owe the refunded amount. Gale's fee on the refunded part goes back too.

Only a card payment Gale charged can be refunded here. Fix a cash, check or External card payment with Edit or Delete in the same details. The practice owner and a biller can refund. In the Gale layout, the same page opens at Transactions.

Close the day with Daily close

Daily close is the end-of-day check. It shows what came in by payment method, with refunds, processing fees and the net, and lists anything unresolved, such as client credit not yet applied or a payment with no invoice. Once you have looked, Close day locks the day's payments.

In chat, type "Close out today" or "Close the day". Gale answers with a Ready to review card for the day, such as Close Oct 23, with what came in, and says nothing is sent or recorded until you press Close day. Tap Open daily close: Daily close opens on that day with Close day ready. If anything is unresolved, tick the box saying you reviewed it, then press Close day. It may ask you to sign in again.

To check the totals first, type "What came in today?" For the steps in words, type "How do I close the day?"

On the screen, open Analytics > Reports and choose Daily close under More in Gale. In the Gale layout, open Reports, then Daily close under Billing and reconciliation.

Closing covers every clinician, so it needs permission to submit billing for all of them. The practice owner and a biller have it. A practice manager or a front desk member can't close the day. If Close day stays greyed out after that, the reason shows under it.

What Daily close locks

Close day locks payments dated on or before that day. No cash, check or External card payment can then be dated on or before it, and the ones already there can't be changed or deleted, except for a memo. A correction becomes a new payment or a write-off dated the next day or later. The closed date only moves forward, so close a day once its last payment is in.

A card payment that settles onto a closed day is still recorded. Daily close then shows how much it changed what was collected.

You can close today once it has started, but not a day ahead. If you close early, a cash or check payment taken later that day can't be recorded on it. Invoices are locked only when you press Reconcile on the A/R reconciliation report.