Steps to Create a Retail Membership

Follow these steps to set up a retail membership within SigmaMD, allowing flexible membership plans with customizable pricing, discounts, and billing cycles.

Step 1: Access Membership Plans

Navigate to the Memberships screen within SigmaMD and click on the Membership plan > Retail button.

Step 2: Build the Membership Plan

Define the details of the membership:

Plan Details

• Plan name: Choose a name for the membership.
• Invoice description (optional): A text area where you can provide details of the plan (visible on invoices).
• Name on invoice (optional): An alternative name displayed on invoices.
• Coverage Policies: Select applicable registered coverage policies.

Charging Cycles

• Define billing frequency (e.g., monthly, quarterly). The minimum cycle duration is one month, and the maximum is 99 months.
• Minimum cycles: The number of cycles the patient commits to (e.g., 3 for a 3-month minimum with monthly billing).
• Auto-renew subscription: The membership keeps renewing after its minimum cycles. When it's off, the membership ends after its minimum cycles.
• Send renewal notification: Notifies the patient when the membership renews. Available only when Auto-renew subscription is on.

Selling a single cycle: To sell a membership for one cycle only, such as a one-time visit package, set Minimum cycles to 1 and turn off Auto-renew subscription. The patient is charged once, and the membership ends when the cycle ends. The patient is a member for the whole cycle, so the plan's coverage policies apply until it ends. To charge for a single visit without member benefits, use an invoice with a charge item instead.

Billing Options

Controls when charges are generated within each cycle:

• Bill in advance: The member is charged at the start of each billing cycle. This is the default behavior.
• Bill in arrears: The member is charged at the end of each billing cycle.

• Cycle date:
  • Same as start date: The cycle renews on the same calendar day the membership started. For example, if a member enrolls on March 15, every cycle renews on the 15th.
  • Fixed day(s) of the month: The cycle renews on specific fixed calendar days of the month (1st through 28th). You can select one or more days.
    • Memberships can only start on the dates listed above: Turn on to allow start dates only on the selected days.
    • Prorate first cycle: When start dates aren't limited, charges the first cycle only from the membership start to the first renewal.

• Due date: By default, each cycle's invoice is due on the day it's issued. To give the patient more time, turn on Due after issue date and enter a number of days, from 1 to 30. The invoice is still issued on the cycle date; when autopay is on, the payment method on file is charged on the due date.
  • If you change this setting when editing a plan, invoices already drafted keep their current due date. The new due date applies from the next billing cycle that hasn't been drafted yet.

• When Bill in arrears is selected, an additional option appears:
  • First cycle: Choose whether the very first cycle is charged on the membership start date (Charge on membership start date) or on the cycle end date (Charge on cycle end date).

Sales Tax Options

• Use practice default: Applies the practice’s default tax rate.
• Use another profile: Select a different registered tax profile.
• Do not use a sales tax profile: No tax will be applied.

Plan Seats

• Seat name: Default is "Seat 1" (editable).
• Min age and Max age: Set the age range for eligibility.
• Aging seat: Select another seat to automatically transition members into when they exceed the maximum age of the current seat (e.g., a member in a "Child" seat automatically moves to an "Adult" seat when they age out).
• Allow Up To: Define the maximum number of enrollees per seat. The seat price is charged for each member in the seat.

• Add progressive discount: Lowers the price for each additional member in the same seat. The first member pays the full price, and members in other seats don't count.
  • %: Each member pays the previous member's price minus the percentage (e.g., 10% discount means $100 → $90 → $81).
  • $: The amount comes off once for each earlier member (e.g., $10 discount means $100 → $90 → $80).

Plan Seat Pricing

• Each seat has a price for each charging cycle (e.g., Price for 1 month, Price for 3 months).
• Seat: Add additional seat types as needed.

Required Seats Rules

• Seat rules are optional — a plan can be created with none.
• Supports AND/OR conditions for multiple seat combinations.

Enrollment Fees

Membership plans can charge a one-time enrollment fee based on the number of patients on the membership or a percentage of the plan's total.

• By Number of patients:
  • Define fees based on the number of enrollees.
  • Click Add fee and enter values as needed.

• By Plan amount:
  • Enter the Percentage of the total membership fee to charge.

Note: Set a Name on invoice; This replaces the default "enrollment fee" label patients see on their invoice and during enrollment.

Price Cap

• Turn on Add price cap and set a maximum amount for each charging cycle, regardless of how many members are enrolled in the membership.
• To charge one flat price for a family, set that price as the cap.

Group Discounts

Click Add group and choose a rule. Each rule gives a Discount of a fixed amount ($) or a percentage (%) of the membership total.

• Membership composition: Applies when the membership has at least the number of members you set for each seat in the rule. A rule must include at least three seats. To discount by family size alone, use Number of patients.

• Number of patients: Applies when the membership has at least that many members, counted across all seats.

When more than one rule applies, only the largest discount is used.

How the Membership Price Is Calculated

For each cycle, SigmaMD works out the price in this order:

1. Seat prices: Each member pays their seat's price for the charging cycle, after the seat's progressive discount.
2. Group discount: The largest group discount that applies comes off the total of all seats.
3. Price cap: If the total is still above the cap, the cap is charged.
4. Extra discount: A discount added to a patient's membership comes off last.

The price never goes below $0.

For example, two adults in an Adult seat priced at $100 with a 10% progressive discount, plus one child in a Child seat priced at $50, add up to $240 ($100 + $90 + $50). A 5% group discount for 3 or more patients brings it to $228. With a $200 price cap, the family pays $200.

Step 3: Save the Membership Plan

• Once saved, the membership plan will appear in the Membership plans list.

Setting up a retail membership allows for flexible billing, discounts, and structured seat requirements.