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Automated Payment Recovery

When payments fail, the system sends outreach to patients, prompts them to update their payment method, and coordinates retries, recovering revenue without manual effort from your team.

Failed payments are one of the most common administrative headaches in DPC practices. DPC Pro automates the recovery process by sending personalized outreach to patients with failed payments, guiding them to update their payment information, and scheduling retries at defined intervals.

This page covers how automated payment recovery works, what messages patients receive, and how to monitor recovery results. The system follows your practice’s dunning policies and escalates to your team when automated recovery is not successful.

How Automated Recovery Works

Section titled “How Automated Recovery Works”

Payment recovery begins automatically when a membership payment fails. Here is the sequence of events:

1. Payment failure detected

Section titled “1. Payment failure detected”

When Stripe reports a failed charge for a membership subscription, DPC Pro:

  • Updates the membership status to Past Due
  • Creates a recovery tracking record with the failure reason (for example, “card declined” or “insufficient funds”)
  • Triggers the first outreach notification immediately

2. Outreach sequence begins

Section titled “2. Outreach sequence begins”

The system sends a series of messages to the patient over time, each with a link to update their payment method. The schedule is:

DayStageWhat Happens
Day 0Payment failedImmediate notification: “Action Required: Payment Failed”
Day 1First reminderReminder email: “Update Your Payment Method”
Day 3Second reminderEscalated reminder: “Your Membership Payment is Past Due”
Day 6Third reminderUrgent reminder: “Membership Payment Required”
Every 6 days afterContinuing remindersRecurring reminder until resolved or staff intervenes

Each outreach message includes a direct link where the patient can update their card or payment method without needing to log in to the full portal.

3. Payment retries

Section titled “3. Payment retries”

When the patient updates their payment method (or if the original method becomes valid again), Stripe automatically retries the charge. If the retry succeeds:

  • The membership status returns to Active
  • The recovery record is marked as resolved
  • The patient receives a payment confirmation email

4. Escalation to staff

Section titled “4. Escalation to staff”

If automated outreach does not resolve the payment after multiple cycles, the recovery record remains active and visible on your billing dashboard. At that point, your team can:

  • Contact the patient directly
  • Adjust the membership terms
  • Cancel the membership if appropriate

AI Transparency

Section titled “AI Transparency”

Patient Outreach Messages

Section titled “Patient Outreach Messages”

What patients receive

Section titled “What patients receive”

Each outreach email includes:

  • Patient’s name: Personalized greeting
  • Practice name: Your practice’s legal name in the subject line and body
  • Failure reason: A plain-language explanation (for example, “Your payment method was declined”)
  • Days past due: How long the payment has been outstanding
  • Payment update link: A direct URL where the patient can enter updated card information
  • Amount due: The membership payment amount

Message tone

Section titled “Message tone”

Outreach messages follow an escalating tone:

  1. Day 0: Informational. “Your payment did not go through. Here’s a link to update your payment method.”
  2. Day 1: Gentle reminder. “We noticed your payment still needs attention.”
  3. Day 3: More direct. “Your membership payment is past due.”
  4. Day 6: Urgent. “Payment is required to maintain your membership.”
  5. Recurring: Steady reminders every six days.

Messages are professional and patient-friendly. They do not use threatening language or reference consequences beyond the membership itself.

Payment confirmation

Section titled “Payment confirmation”

When a payment is recovered, the patient receives a confirmation email with:

  • Acknowledgment that payment was received
  • Practice name
  • Membership status restored to active

Recovery Timeline

Section titled “Recovery Timeline”

The full recovery timeline from first failure to resolution:

Day 0    Payment fails → Membership marked "Past Due" → First notification sent
Day 1    First reminder sent
Day 3    Second reminder sent
Day 6    Third reminder sent
Day 12   Recurring reminder sent
Day 18   Recurring reminder sent
...      Continues every 6 days until resolved or manually addressed

When recovery succeeds

Section titled “When recovery succeeds”

At any point during the sequence, if the patient updates their payment method and the charge succeeds:

  1. The membership returns to Active status
  2. The recovery tracking record is closed
  3. A confirmation email is sent to the patient
  4. The sequence stops. No further reminders are sent

When recovery does not succeed

Section titled “When recovery does not succeed”

If the sequence continues beyond several cycles without resolution:

  • The membership remains Past Due
  • The recovery record stays active on your billing dashboard
  • Your team can intervene manually

DPC Pro does not automatically cancel memberships due to failed payments. That decision is always made by your team.

Monitoring Recovery Results

Section titled “Monitoring Recovery Results”

Billing dashboard

Section titled “Billing dashboard”

Your billing dashboard shows:

  • Active recovery cases: Memberships currently in the dunning sequence
  • Recovery stage: Where each case is in the outreach timeline (Day 0, Day 1, Day 3, Day 6, or Recurring)
  • Days past due: How long each payment has been outstanding
  • Failure reason: The original reason the payment failed

Key metrics to track

Section titled “Key metrics to track”
  • Recovery rate: Percentage of failed payments that are eventually recovered
  • Time to recovery: Average number of days between first failure and successful payment
  • Outstanding amount: Total dollar value of memberships currently past due
  • Cases by stage: How many memberships are at each stage of the dunning sequence

Notification history

Section titled “Notification history”

For each recovery case, you can view:

  • Every notification that was sent
  • The recipient email address
  • The delivery timestamp
  • Whether the email was opened or clicked (when tracking is available)

Configuring Recovery Behavior

Section titled “Configuring Recovery Behavior”

Adjusting outreach timing

Section titled “Adjusting outreach timing”

The default dunning schedule (Day 0, Day 1, Day 3, Day 6, then every 6 days) works well for most practices. If you need to change the timing:

  1. Navigate to Settings -> Billing -> Payment Recovery.
  2. Adjust the Reminder Schedule intervals.
  3. Select Save.

Pausing recovery for a specific patient

Section titled “Pausing recovery for a specific patient”

If you need to temporarily stop outreach for a patient (for example, during a known billing dispute):

  1. Navigate to the patient’s billing record.
  2. Find the active recovery case.
  3. Select Pause Recovery.
  4. The system stops sending reminders until you resume.

Renewal reminders (separate from recovery)

Section titled “Renewal reminders (separate from recovery)”

DPC Pro also sends renewal reminders for memberships approaching their renewal date. These are different from payment recovery:

  • Monthly memberships: A reminder is sent two days before the renewal charge
  • Annual memberships: Reminders are sent at 30 days and 7 days before the contract end date

Renewal reminders are informational. They let the patient know a charge is coming so they can update their payment method proactively.

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Need Help?

Section titled “Need Help?”

If you have questions about automated payment recovery, reach out to the DPC Pro support team at [email protected] or visit the troubleshooting guide.