The Autopayments window is accessed from the header bar in Cloud 9, from the Financial dropdown menu. This is where the running of payments can occur. Even if your practice participates in Scheduled Contract Payments (see Article here: Scheduled Contract Payments), the Autopayment Queue still provides important functionality.
Accessing the Auto Payments Queue
From the Cloud 9 Header Bar, select the Financial dropdown menu, and select Auto Payments.
Auto Payment Queue Basics
Once you select the Autopayment option, the below screen shows generally what you will see.
Since there is a lot of information contained here, let's break it down into some smaller pieces. First, starting with the upper left corner, we have three buttons.
To the far left is the standard Refresh button. Any time you make changes to the screen, and want those changes to be reflected, select the refresh button. You may change the date range, the posting location, or some other field. Use the refresh button to show information contained using your selected parameters.
The middle button looks like a printer Icon, and when selected, has a dropdown menu of options.
From this option, you can select to Print Postings (or preview on your screen) during the identified time frame. Print Postings will print four pages, one for each of the tabs in the Autopayment Screen (Credit Cards, Bank Accounts, Post-Dated Checks, and Manual).
Selecting the Print Declines and Returns option will provide a report listing all of the expected payments during the provided timeframe that ran but were declined or returned for various reasons. This report will include Credit Cards and Bank Accounts.
Selecting the Print Expiring Credit Cards will provide a list of all credit cards with an expiration date within the date range identified in the filters section at the upper right of the screen. Let's review that now.
In the screen above you can see that the date range selected is May 1 through May 15 of 2026. Below those fields, the Payment Source field identifies that you are wanting to run the Primary payment method.
To the right of the Start Date field is the Location(s) field. Using the dropdown, you will select the locations for which you are running Auto Payments. You can select one, some, or all of the available locations.
Below the Location(s) field is the Status field. While Pending is currently selected, the other options are Declined and Approved. Pending shows all of the pending auto payments within the specified date range. Once the payments are run, there should be no more payments showing as pending for the identified date range. When filtering again for the declined status, those payments that were declined will show. Filter for Approved, and all of the payments that were approved will show.
Below the Status field is a Search field. There may be occasions where there are numerous patients contained in the list that is showing. Instead of manually searching through the list, you can enter the last name in the list to filter by that last name.
To the right of the Filters box, find the Posting box as shown above. The three fields in this box all have dropdowns to locate the specific information you may need. The first field, titled Location, allows you to select the posting location. Your practice may post all payments from one main location or post them by each location. Whichever way you chose to do it is completely up to your practice. Cloud 9 allows you to do it whichever way you choose.
To the right of the Location field is the Payment Source field. The options on this dropdown are either Primary or Backup. You can run Auto Payments for the Primary payment source, or the Back-up payment source.
The final field in this box is that of Provider. You can run Auto Payments based on a selected provider, or the general default shown, the Patient's Provider.
Auto Payment Sources
Auto Payments can be run from four different sources. They are shown on the tabs below, found center screen in the Auto Payments Queue.
When the Auto Payments Queue opens up, the Credit Card tab is already selected, as this is the most often used mechanism for Auto Payments. The pending payments in the selected date range will automatically load on the bottom portion of the screen. You should review the list to confirm you want all of those payments to be processed. If there is an instance of a Responsible Party who made a payment yesterday, whose Automatic payment is scheduled to be posted today you may want to consider removing them from this list by unchecking the box to the left of their patient's name. All checked boxes will be run when the Green Post Auto Payments button is selected.
If your office uses the Auto Payments Queue for the running of your Auto Payments, both the Credit Card tab and the Bank Accounts tab need to be run before the task is considered to be completed. In this screen, once the Auto Payments have been run, the Status filter should be changed from Pending to Declined and reload the screen. The Status field should say Declined, and the Notes field would provide a reason. This information comes directly from your Payment Processor. Sometimes the decline message simply says DO NOT RETRY. For any questions you may have regarding the underlying meaning of the decline messages, you will need to speak directly with your payment processor. To work this Declines list, return to the top of the screen, and use the printer icon button to print your declines, and work them from that list.
The Bank Account Tab is run in the same manner as the Credit Card list. However, the Payment Processor has an additional step to accomplish, which takes more time. Bank Accounts, or ACH payments, must be approved by the Bank upon which they are drawn. The Payment Processor has to wait for that approval or declination from the bank before you will get an accurate list. The patient ledger will show that the payment has been made, but if it is declined, the payment may be reversed on the ledger, showing there was a decline, and the reason. When ACH payments are run in the Auto Payments Queue, it is recommended to return to the queue about 3 to 5 business days later, and without any patient records checked Select the Post Auto Payment button. This checks for the most current information from the Payment Processor on which checks have gone through the bank and been confirmed as approved or decline.
The Post-Dated Checks tab is only for use by our Canadian Partners, as post-dating checks in the United States is illegal. But for Canadian offices, this is where the checks that are scheduled to be run this month would show. The boxes on the left should be checked for each one, and the Green Post Autopayments button would be used to process them.
The Manual tab will show different things based upon the non-integrated payment processor's requirements. But the same basics are included. If the patient has a charge date in their contract that falls within the date range identified in the Filters section of the Auto Payments Screen, it will show up in this list. While selecting the Post Auto Payments button would not be used, the list of those charges could be printed and provided to the Bank for their processing of payments.
As always, if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Cloud 9 Support by emailing us at cloud9support@planetdds.com, or chatting us online using the chat bubble on the lower right at https://cloud9support.planetdds.com/hc/en-us, or giving us a call during our business hours of 8:00 AM EST to 8:00 PM EST at the 1.800.394.6050 option 2.