Software for fee-for-service and membership-plan dental offices

Most US dental offices send insurance claims electronically, and that makes them HIPAA covered entities. This page is for the other kind: fee-for-service offices that don't submit claims, often with an in-house membership plan for patients without coverage. Their admin work is selling the plan, collecting the fee, getting the financial policy signed before the first cleaning, and quoting the crown or implant case with a deposit. Charting, X-rays and perio notes stay in your practice management software.

From new-patient booking to a paid treatment plan

1. A new patient finds your Link in Bio page from Google or Instagram: your fees for the common visits, membership plan prices for adults and kids, and the booking link.
2. They book a 60-minute "New patient exam and cleaning" with a $50 deposit charged at booking, refunded automatically if they cancel at least 48 hours ahead (example numbers). A 10-minute buffer after each visit leaves time to turn over the operatory.
3. Booking questions stay administrative: new or returning, preferred hygienist, how they heard about you. The health history comes from your practice management software at check-in.
4. Before the visit, the patient signs your financial policy (payment due at time of service, broken-appointment fee, membership terms) through E-Signatures on their phone.
5. If they join the membership plan, create a repeating invoice, monthly or once a year. Each one goes out with a pay link and your other payment details, and the patient pays it.
6. For a crown, implant or aligner case, send a proposal with each phase as a line item, the membership discount applied and a 50% deposit. Describe it in general terms ("Implant treatment, phase 1") and keep the tooth chart in your clinical system. Once it's accepted, the deposit invoice is created from it.
7. On the day, collect the balance with the invoice's pay link or your card terminal. Patient financing, if you offer it, stays with your financing company.

A typical week

• Monday: two new-patient exams booked overnight with deposits paid, and both financial policies signed before the patients arrive.
• Tuesday: a patient cancels Thursday's cleaning 20 hours ahead, inside your 48-hour window, so the deposit stays and you fill the slot from your short-notice list.
• Wednesday: you quote a two-implant case. The patient opens the proposal three times that evening and accepts on Friday.
• Thursday: the monthly membership invoices went out on the 1st. Nine are unpaid, and the reminder 3 days after the due date already went out.
• Friday: lab invoices, the supply order and the handpiece repair go into Expenses with receipts.

All 13 tools, one by one

How a fee-for-service dental office can use each tool. Some run every day; a few only help in one narrow case, and the line says which.

• Link in Bio: your fees for common visits, membership plan prices for adults and kids, the new-patient booking link and directions, on one page for your Google Business Profile.
• Short Links: a QR code on appointment cards and the front-desk sign that opens the membership plan page, with separate links to compare scans from the office against your mailers.
• Forms: a membership sign-up form with household members, contact details and plan choice, which can start an automation that sends the agreement. Health history stays in your PMS.
• Scheduling: new-patient exams with a deposit, hygiene recalls on single-use links, and on Team a meeting type that books whichever hygienist is free.
• Proposals: treatment quotes for crowns, implants, aligners or whitening, phased as line items with the membership discount and a deposit percentage accepted online.
• E-Signatures: the financial policy, the membership agreement and your broken-appointment policy, signed from a phone before the first visit, with a certificate for your files.
• Document Tracking: a PDF that explains the membership plan, shared as a tracked link so you know the patient opened it before the front desk calls back.
• Screen Recording: short screen videos for your front desk, such as how to find an unpaid membership invoice or resend a recall link. Patients rarely need one.
• Notes & Boards: a board for office tasks like equipment service, license and CE renewals and the next mailer, and a page with your fee schedule notes. No patient names.
• Time Tracking: little use chairside. It helps if you also bill hours as a consultant to a dental company or as an expert reviewer for a law firm.
• Invoicing: membership invoices that repeat monthly or yearly, deposit and balance invoices from a treatment quote, and one tax rate per invoice if your state taxes a product you sell.
• Expenses: lab fees, dental supplies, equipment leases and continuing education with receipts, so you see what the office clears each month.
• Automations: a welcome email when a membership agreement is signed, a renewal task due 11 months later for yearly plans, and a rebook email after a missed cleaning.

US rules for a fee-for-service dental office

• Good Faith Estimates: under the No Surprises Act, providers must give uninsured or self-pay patients a written Good Faith Estimate when they schedule care at least 3 business days ahead or ask what it will cost, on paper or electronically as the patient prefers. If the bill comes in at least $400 above the estimate, the patient can use the federal dispute process.
• Membership plans: Clerri (formerly Kleer), which runs in-house plans for dental offices, describes them as not insurance. Whether your state treats them as insurance or a discount plan is a state question, so check with your state's insurance department and dental board before you launch.

A SoloWOS proposal is a price quote, not a Good Faith Estimate: CMS sets what the estimate must contain and publishes a model notice. Use your EHR or the CMS model, and count the 3 business days with the business days calculator.

HIPAA: who can use SoloWOS and for what

HIPAA applies to health care providers who send health information electronically in standard transactions, such as billing insurance. A cloud service that stores protected health information for a covered provider is a business associate and needs a Business Associate Agreement (BAA). SoloWOS doesn't sign BAAs and isn't HIPAA compliant.

• If you bill insurance electronically, you're a covered entity: don't put your patients' health information in SoloWOS. Keep using your EHR or practice-management system for anything clinical.
• If your practice is cash-pay only and never bills insurance electronically, HIPAA may not cover you, but state health-privacy laws can still apply. Ask your lawyer before you rely on that.
• Either way, keep intake forms and booking questions administrative (name, email, preferred time, reason for the visit in general terms) and leave clinical questions for the visit and your records system.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules vary by state; check yours with a lawyer or your licensing board.

SoloWOS or Clerri: which fits

Clerri runs the membership plan inside your practice management software, and Weave handles phones, texting and payments for the office. SoloWOS sits outside the clinical system altogether.

• Choose Clerri if your plan should live inside Dentrix, Eaglesoft or Open Dental, with enrollment, billing and renewals handled there.
• Choose Weave if your patients text you and you want reminders they confirm by text and payments in the same thread.
• Choose SoloWOS if you're fee-for-service, your lawyer agrees HIPAA doesn't cover you, and you want the booking deposit, the signed financial policy, treatment quotes and membership invoices in one account.

Prices and features checked on October 23, 2026 on each company's site.

Start with these three

Scheduling with the new-patient exam and its deposit, E-Signatures for the financial policy, and Invoicing with your membership plan as a repeating invoice. Add Proposals when the first large treatment case comes in.

Free tools that help

• Customer lifetime value calculator for what a membership patient is worth over several years of cleanings and treatment.
• Break-even calculator for how many members cover your hygienist's hours.
• Profit margin calculator to check a crown fee after the lab bill.
• QR code generator for appointment cards and the membership flyer.

What SoloWOS won't do for a dentist

• No charting, X-rays, perio or tooth charts, and no insurance claims or eligibility checks.
• No automatic monthly charge on a saved card and no patient financing. Membership invoices repeat; the patient pays each one.
• Reminders by email only, no texts.
• No supply inventory or ordering.
• No Business Associate Agreement, so nothing for an office that bills insurance electronically.
• SoloWOS doesn't file taxes, issue 1099s or collect sales tax for you. Invoicing sends the invoice with a pay link (card through your Stripe account) and your other payment details; your accountant or tax software handles the rest.