Account Holders vs. Patients

In DPC Pro, the account holder is the person responsible for billing. A patient is anyone receiving care. They are sometimes the same person, and sometimes not.

DPC Pro distinguishes between two roles: the account holder and the patient. An individual adult enrolled on their own is both the account holder and the patient. In a family plan, one person (typically a parent or spouse) serves as the account holder and pays for all family members, each of whom is a separate patient.

This distinction matters for billing, communication, and portal access. Understanding it helps your team route invoices to the right person, communicate with the right contact, and manage family billing without confusion.

When Account Holder and Patient Are the Same

The most common scenario: an adult patient who manages their own billing.

When you add a solo patient to DPC Pro:

1. Register the person as an account holder (through Customers → Add Customer). This creates their login credentials and billing profile.
2. Add them as a patient linked to their own account with the relationship set to Self.

In this case, the same person:

• Receives billing notifications and payment receipts
• Can update their own payment methods
• Has portal access to view records, schedule visits, and send messages
• Manages their own membership plan

The account holder profile and the patient record are linked but serve different purposes. The account holder profile handles billing and portal access. The patient record holds clinical information, medical history, and practice enrollments.

Note

Account holders always have a user login. Patients may or may not have portal access. It depends on whether login has been enabled for their record.

When They Differ: Family Plans

In family plans, one person serves as the account holder while all family members are separate patients.

Example: A parent enrolls their family. The parent is the account holder. The parent, their spouse, and two children each have separate patient records linked to the parent’s account.

Here is what this looks like in DPC Pro:

Person	Account Holder?	Patient?	Relationship
Parent (billing contact)	Yes	Yes	Self
Spouse	No	Yes	Spouse/Partner
Child (age 12)	No	Yes	Child
Child (age 8)	No	Yes	Child

All four patients are linked to the same account holder. Billing, payment methods, and invoices flow through the parent’s account.

What each role controls

Capability	Account Holder	Patient (Non-Account Holder)
Pay membership fees	Yes	No
Update payment methods	Yes	No
View billing invoices	Yes	No
Manage family members	Yes (if family management permission is granted)	No
Schedule own visits	If also a patient	Yes (if portal access enabled)
View own clinical records	If also a patient	Yes (if portal access enabled)
Send/receive secure messages	Yes	Yes (if portal access enabled)

Billing Implications

Who receives invoices

All billing communications are directed to the account holder, not individual patients. For details on how individual memberships handle invoicing:

• Membership invoices
• Payment receipts
• Failed payment notifications
• Payment recovery (dunning) emails

This means when a family membership payment fails, the account holder receives the notification, even if the failure affects coverage for all family members.

Who can update payment methods

Only the account holder can update payment information. Payment methods are stored per practice through the account holder’s profile:

1. Navigate to Customers → select the account holder.
2. View or update payment methods from the account holder’s profile.

Membership pricing and family size

The membership tracks family composition automatically:

• Family size: total number of covered patients
• Adult count: patients aged 18 and older
• Child count: patients under 18

When you add or remove a covered patient, DPC Pro recalculates these counts. Pricing may adjust based on the plan’s family pricing structure (single, couple, or family tiers).

Important

When removing a family member from a membership, verify that billing reflects the updated family size. The membership plan’s pricing tiers may change based on whether the family qualifies as single, couple, or family.

Communication Routing

DPC Pro routes communications differently based on the message type and the recipient’s role.

Billing communications

All billing-related communications go to the account holder:

• Payment receipts and invoices
• Failed payment alerts
• Membership renewal reminders
• Payment recovery notifications

Clinical and scheduling communications

Visit reminders, secure messages, and clinical notifications go to the patient (or the account holder if the patient is a minor or does not have portal access):

• Visit reminders sent to the patient’s email or phone
• Secure messages delivered to the patient’s message inbox
• Broadcast messages sent based on the patient’s contact preferences

Minor patients

For patients under 18, communications are typically routed to the account holder. The account holder manages the minor’s portal access and communication preferences.

For Practice Managers

Review family communication preferences periodically, especially for families with teenagers approaching 18. You may need to transition their communications from the account holder to the patient directly.

Changing the Account Holder

Changing billing responsibility requires a patient transfer: moving a patient from one account holder to another. Common scenarios include:

Divorce or separation

When parents separate and billing responsibility changes:

1. Navigate to the patient’s record.
2. Select Transfer Patient in the Actions sidebar.
3. Select the new account holder in the To field.
4. Choose Divorce/Separation as the transfer type.
5. Set the Effective Date.
6. Optionally enter a Court Order Number if applicable.
7. Choose which items to transfer: Medical Records, Appointments, and/or Billing Responsibility.
8. Select Submit.

The transfer goes through an approval workflow (Requested → Approved → Completed) before taking effect.

Adult child transitioning to own account

When a dependent reaches adulthood and needs their own billing account:

1. Register the adult child as a new account holder.
2. Initiate a transfer from the parent’s account to the child’s new account.
3. Select Age of Majority as the transfer type.
4. After the transfer completes, enroll the patient in their own membership plan.

Patient request

A patient may request to change their billing account holder for any reason:

1. Initiate a transfer with Patient Request as the transfer type.
2. The current and new account holders do not need to have any family relationship. Any active account holder can be selected.

For full details on the transfer process, see Transfer or Archive Patients.

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Related Pages

• Add a New Patient
• Patient Records Overview
• Manage Families and Dependents
• Membership Status and Coverage
• Patient Communication Preferences
• Transfer or Archive Patients

Need Help?

If you have questions about account holders and patient relationships, reach out to the DPC Pro support team at [email protected] or visit the troubleshooting guide.