Issuing refunds
To refund a patient payment:
- Open the payment from Financial → Patient Payments or from the patient's Timeline.
- Click Refund.
- Choose Full refund or Partial (enter the amount).
- Optional: add a reason. This is for your records and the Stripe dashboard.
- Click Confirm refund.
The refund processes through Stripe and the money returns to the patient's original payment method. They get an automatic email receipt for the refund.
Timing
Refunds typically post to the patient's bank or card in 5–10 business days, depending on their bank. Stripe initiates the refund immediately on your side.
Platform fees on refunds
ApexMentum returns the 2.9% platform fee on refunded amounts. So if you refund a $200 charge, the patient gets $200 back and your net cost is zero (Stripe's processing fee is not refunded — that's industry standard).
If you partial-refund $50 of a $200 charge, we return 2.9% of $50 in platform fee.
How it shows in your books
A refund creates its own record in Patient Payments with status "Refunded" or "Partially refunded", linked back to the original charge. Both records stay in the patient's Timeline.
Your Revenue & Commission report and your Patient Payments page net out refunds automatically.
Disputes vs. refunds
If a patient files a dispute (chargeback) with their bank instead of asking you for a refund:
- You'll be notified by email and in Financial → Patient Payments.
- The disputed amount is withheld from your next payout until resolved.
- Stripe handles the dispute response on your behalf, but you can upload evidence (visit notes, communication, signed consent) through the link in the dispute notification.
Most disputes can be resolved by issuing a normal refund once you've talked to the patient. Reach out to the patient first — that often heads off the formal dispute process.
Refunds for cancellations
If a patient prepaid for an appointment and then cancels within your cancellation window, you can refund the full amount with one click. Outside the cancellation window, you decide whether to refund full, partial, or none based on your policy.
Recurring patient payments
For patients on a payment plan or membership, you can:
- Refund any individual charge (as above)
- Pause future charges from the patient's record
- Cancel the recurring plan entirely
What you can't refund
- Refunds older than 90 days require contacting Stripe support (Stripe's policy, not ours).
- ApexMentum SaaS subscription fees (those you pay us monthly) are separate from patient payments — see Apexmentum Billing for that side.