Credit Card Processing Fees for Health and Wellness Practices: What Providers Need to Know

Credit card processing is part of daily operations for most health and wellness practices, but the merchant fees behind each transaction aren’t always easy to understand. Rather than one standard rate, processing costs can vary based on factors such as how a payment is accepted, how transactions are managed and whether your payment workflow aligns with the way your practice bills for care.

Unlike many retail merchants, health and wellness providers often collect deposits before treatment, adjust estimates as care plans evolve and receive what the patient is responsible for after insurance has been applied — all of which can create more complex payment workflows.

Understanding what influences credit card processing fees can help practices better evaluate payment providers, identify avoidable costs and create a payment experience that works for both the business and its patients.

What Are Merchant Fees?

Merchant fees include the various costs required for credit card payment processing. A processor may quote a single rate, but what the health and wellness practice actually pays is often a collection of smaller fees paid to several service providers, including the merchant’s and the customer’s banks. These small fees can vary based on how the payment is made and the card used.

The three main components of merchant fees are as follows:¹

Why Merchant Fees Vary

Credit card processing fees vary because each component of the total processing cost can change depending on the characteristics of the transaction. For health and wellness practices, factors such as larger transactions, deposits, partial payments and changing treatment estimates can all influence processing costs.

Common factors that can affect merchant fees include:¹

• Card-present vs. card-not-present. In-person card-present transactions generally have lower processing costs because they present less chance of fraud than manually keyed or online payments.
• High-ticket balances, deposits and partial payments. Large treatment plans increase percentage-based processing costs. In addition, some payment processors charge a fixed fee for each transaction, so collecting deposits or multiple partial payments may increase overall processing costs.
• Refunds, voids and chargebacks. Every transaction incurs fees, including when merchants refund or void payments and when a customer disputes a charge, which may require a merchant to pay a chargeback fee.
• Batching and settlement timing. Many processors require transactions to be settled in batches. Delayed batching can sometimes affect processing costs or transaction qualification depending on the processor’s policies.
• “Downgrades” and missing transaction data. Some processors charge higher rates when transactions don’t meet certain qualification criteria, sometimes referred to as “downgrades.” Missing information can also cause a transaction to qualify for a more expensive processing category.

Common Pricing Models

Merchant fees for health and wellness practices can also vary based on the payment processor’s pricing model. Generally, processors use one of three approaches to assess merchant fees:

• Flat-rate pricing. Flat rates bundle interchange, network assessments and processor markups, allowing for more predictable pricing but less transparency.
• Interchange-plus pricing. Merchants pay the actual interchange fee separately from a fixed processor markup, which increases transparency but creates price variability.
• Tiered pricing. Transactions are classified into three tiers, with pricing tied to each tier. Pricing can be less transparent than with the other models and transfers risk-related costs to the merchant.

Reviewing Your Merchant Statement

To understand your practice’s merchant statement each month, review the following items:

Choosing a Payments Partner

Health and wellness practices often have payment workflows that differ from traditional retail businesses. Treatment estimates can change, patients may pay deposits before services are rendered and larger balances may require financing options, making it important to evaluate payment providers on more than processing rates alone.

Factors that health and wellness practices might consider include:

• Contract terms and cancellation. Evaluate each merchant services provider’s contract terms, including cancellation fees, renewal provisions, equipment obligations and contract length. Some processors require one- to three-year contracts.²
• Chargeback support and dispute workflows. Find out how disputes are managed, what evidence the merchant must provide to process an appeal and if chargebacks are refunded after successful appeals.
• Reporting you can actually audit. Reports should make it easy to identify sales, deposits, refunds, chargebacks and processor fees so you can accurately calculate your effective processing rate.
• Security/PCI approach. The practice has obligations to help maintain payment data security, even when working through a third-party merchant services provider. Ensure your practice is aware of the merchant services provider’s PCI DSS (payment card industry data security standard) compliance policies and what additional documentation, if any, the practice is responsible for.
• Integration with your practice systems and patient communications. Many practices already rely on a practice management system. Evaluate whether the payment provider works with existing software and supports patient-friendly communications through portals, custom links and QR codes.

Using CareCredit for a Patient-Friendly Payment Workflow

While the sections above outline how general credit card processing fees can work in health and wellness practices, providers seeking a financing option tailored to patient care may also consider CareCredit.

Health and wellness treatments often involve significant out-of-pocket costs that patients may not be prepared to pay all at once. According to CareCredit’s 2026 Out-of-Pocket Healthcare Expenses report, cardholders spent $3,391 on average in out-of-pocket healthcare costs in the past 12 months.³

Rather than asking patients to split balances across multiple credit cards or make several partial payments, offering patient financing through CareCredit allows approved cardholders to move forward with recommended care while repaying their balance over time according to their financing terms.

For participating providers, CareCredit processes the purchase as a single transaction and helps simplify the payment experience from start to finish. Practices receive payment in as few as two business days, while transparent and consistent merchant fees tied to the selected financing option help create a more predictable payment workflow.

CareCredit handles the payment option so providers can stay focused on delivering care, and financing that scales with your practice helps support patient access as your business grows. Backed by nearly 40 years of experience serving health and wellness providers, CareCredit is designed to be a long-term financing partner — not just a one-time solution.

A Patient Financing Solution for Health and Wellness Providers

If you are looking for a way to connect your customers with options that empower them to pay for the care they want or need, consider offering CareCredit as a financing solution. CareCredit offers individuals two ways to pay for out-of-pocket health and wellness expenses over time — the CareCredit credit card or a CareCredit Pay Later loan — while helping enhance the payments process for your practice or business.*

When you accept CareCredit, patients or clients can see if they prequalify with no impact to their credit score, and those who apply, if approved, can take advantage of special financing on qualifying purchases.* Additionally, you will be paid directly within two business days.

Learn more about CareCredit as a patient financing solution or start the provider enrollment process by filling out this form.

Author Bio

Natalie Burg is a writer, editor and editorial project manager with more than 20 years of experience. She uses her expertise from a range of industries, including economic development, business, sustainability and more, to create content that educates and engages readers.

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