Post-Import Data Migration Guide: Assigning Memberships
Once your patient and payment data has been successfully imported into SigmaMD, the next step is to ensure that all patients are properly assigned to the correct membership plan. This guide walks practice administrators through the next steps for configuring memberships and managing billing continuity.
1. Create Membership Plans
Before attaching memberships to patients, make sure that the correct membership plans are set up in your SigmaMD account.
- To create retail membership plans, follow the steps outlined in this article.
- To create employer membership plans, refer to this article.
2. Attach Memberships to Imported Patients
To attach a membership to each patient, follow the steps in this guide.
Make sure to:
- Select the correct membership plan
- Choose the appropriate payment method
- Enable autopay
- Disable enrollment fee
- Disable enrollment notifications if patients have already consented to membership terms
3. Choose the Correct Membership Start Date
To prevent patients from being charged twice for the same membership cycle (once in your old billing platform and again in SigmaMD), it’s important to set a start date that aligns with their next billing cycle.
Example:
If a patient (and their family) was last billed on May 1, covering care through May 31, you should set the membership Start Date in SigmaMD to June 1.
This ensures:
- Their current billing cycle completes in the old system
- The next billing cycle begins on SigmaMD
- No overlap or duplicate charges
Repeat this for each patient or family, based on their last billing date in the previous system.
When a membership start date is set in the future, the membership will be placed in a Deferred status until that date.
Impact on Self-Scheduling
While a membership is in Deferred status, patients cannot self-schedule appointment types that require an active membership. This is expected behavior and is described in our self-scheduling troubleshooting article.
Recommended Temporary Setup
To avoid disruption to patient self-scheduling during the first billing cycle in SigmaMD after migration, we recommend the following:
- Do not restrict appointment types to require an active membership during the first cycle.
- Configure appointment types with the membership setting: All memberships and none (All patients can book this appointment type)
Using this approach allows patients with Deferred memberships to continue self-scheduling until their membership becomes Active on the selected start date in SigmaMD.
Once the first cycle begins and memberships move to Active, you can re‑enable membership‑restricted appointment types if desired.
Need Help?
If you’re unsure about how to align the start date with your previous billing platform or have any questions about the import, reach out to our support team.