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CareCredit (Closed Beta)

Shepherd’s CareCredit integration allows your team to manage financing applications, payments, refunds, and Quickscreen directly inside the client payment workflow.

This integration is currently in Closed Beta. Please fill out this form if you are interested in joining the beta or to be notified when this integration goes live.

Purpose

Shepherd’s CareCredit integration keeps financing workflows connected to the same appointment, invoice, and checkout experience your team already uses every day.

With CareCredit enabled in Shepherd, your team can manage financing conversations, launch CareCredit workflows, and track financing activity directly from Shepherd.

Integration Overview

With CareCredit enabled in Shepherd, your team can:

  • Quickscreen upcoming appointments to see if they are preapproved for the CareCredit credit card.

  • Launch CareCredit card applications directly from Shepherd

  • Launch CareCredit payment directly from within the Shephed software

  • Send secure payment or application links to clients

  • Look up existing CareCredit accounts

  • Launch CareCredit refund workflows

  • Track CareCredit activity in Shepherd reporting workflows

How the CareCredit Integration Works

Shepherd surfaces CareCredit financing statuses, dashboard actions, and payment entry points throughout the platform. When your team selects a CareCredit action, Shepherd opens the workflow to CareCredit to complete the requested action.

CareCredit workflows are completed on CareCredit’s platform, including:

  • Applications

  • Preapproved credit offer acceptance

  • Payments

  • Refunds

  • Account lookup

Once completed, CareCredit sends transaction details and status updates back to Shepherd automatically.

Required Permissions

  • Integrations (Setup, edit)

Activating the CareCredit Integration

Enable CareCredit in Shepherd

  1. Go to Admin → Integrations.

  2. Find CareCredit.

  3. Click Activate.

  4. Complete the CareCredit setup.

  5. Wait for the confirmation popup indicating activation was successful.

After activation:

  • CareCredit can be turned on or off at any time.

  • Access to integration settings is controlled by Shepherd role permissions.

Configure Batch Quickscreen

Batch Quickscreen automatically prescreens upcoming appointments for CareCredit eligibility and identifies cardholders.

When enabled:

  • Shepherd sends upcoming appointment client information to CareCredit overnight.

  • Results populate the next day in the CareCredit dashboard (Financial → CareCredit).

  • Financing status appears before checkout workflows begin.

  • Batch Quickscreen works with all appointment types.

Batch Quickscreen can be enabled or disabled from the integration settings page.

Batch Quickscreen timing

After Batch Quickscreen is enabled, CareCredit statuses do not appear immediately

​Shepherd sends appointment information to CareCredit during the daily synchronization process. CareCredit then reviews the submitted clients and returns eligibility results during the next synchronization cycle.
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In most cases, statuses will begin appearing on the CareCredit dashboard within 1-2 business days after Batch Quickscreen is enabled.
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For example, if Batch Quickscreen is enabled on Monday afternoon, CareCredit statuses will typically begin appearing on Wednesday.

How to Use the Integration

CareCredit status visibility

Shepherd surfaces CareCredit financing statuses throughout the platform so your team can quickly identify financing opportunities during scheduling, medical, and checkout workflows.

CareCredit status icons appear:

  • On SOAP pages within Signalment

  • On invoice and payment pages

  • On appointment schedule tiles

  • Within the CareCredit dashboard

Hovering over a status icon displays additional status details. Statuses update automatically as new CareCredit responses are received.

CareCredit status definitions

The CareCredit dashboard (Financial → CareCredit) uses color-coded status indicators to display financing eligibility and account status.

Status

Icon

Description

Cardholder

Blue CareCredit icon

Existing CareCredit cardholder

Preapproved

Green CareCredit icon

Client has a preapproved CareCredit offer available

Check Now

Orange CareCredit icon

Client can be screened for CareCredit prequalification

For existing cardholders, Shepherd also displays:

  • Available credit information

  • Most recent credit refresh date

Status actions and workflows

Dashboard actions opens to the appropriate CareCredit workflow based on the selected status and action. Available actions depend on the client’s CareCredit status.

Cardholder status

When a client is identified as an existing CareCredit cardholder:

  • The dashboard displays a Refresh button to update the client's current available credit from CareCredit

  • Updated available credit information displays with the latest refresh date

Preapproved status

When a client has a preapproved CareCredit offer:

  • The dashboard displays an Apply Now button

  • Apply Now opens the CareCredit offer workflow

  • If the client is preapproved for the CareCredit credit card, the button will open to offer to "Accept or Decline"

  • If the "Accept" offer is made, the client will provide the additional information required and accept the terms and conditions of the account to finalize the application

Check status workflow

When a client does not yet have a known financing status:

  • The dashboard displays a Check Now button

  • Check Now opens the CareCredit prequalification workflow

If Batch Quickscreen is disabled:

  • Individual Check Now actions are hidden

  • Shepherd instead displays a Review CareCredit Status button in the dashboard header

  • Review CareCredit Status opens the same CareCredit application workflow manually

Batch Quickscreen behavior

Batch Quickscreen automatically checks upcoming appointments for financing eligibility.

When enabled:

  • Shepherd automatically sends upcoming appointment information to CareCredit once daily

  • Upcoming appointments within the next 72 hours are included

  • Cancelled appointments are excluded

  • Results are typically available the following morning

If CareCredit does not have the information needed to perform Quickscreen:

  • The client status displays as Check Now status

  • Status icons and workflows update automatically once a response is received

CareCredit applications

Shepherd can open CareCredit application workflows from:

  • Batch Quickscreen results

  • The CareCredit dashboard

  • The checkout workflow

When available, Shepherd prefills client information including:

  • Name

  • Address

  • Phone number

  • Email address

Clients still need to provide required personal and financial information such as:

  • Date of birth

  • Social Security Number

  • Housing status

  • Income information

Shepherd links users to CareCredit to complete applications:

  • In-office

  • By secure mobile link

Payment processing

Shepherd allows your team to launch CareCredit payment workflows directly from the standard checkout workflow.

When the CareCredit integration is enabled:

  • A CareCredit payment option appears on the checkout screen

  • CareCredit can be selected alongside existing payment workflows

  • The payment option is available regardless of the client’s current CareCredit status

During checkout:

  1. Open the invoice.

  2. Click Take Payment.

  3. Select CareCredit as the payment method.

  4. Select Check Out

  5. Complete the CareCredit workflow after the checkout is initiated from Shepherd.

Payment routing behavior

Based on the client’s current CareCredit status, Shepherd links the user to the appropriate CareCredit workflow.

Cardholder status

If the client is an existing CareCredit cardholder:

  • Shepherd opens the CareCredit payment workflow directly

  • Staff can:

    • Enter a card number

    • Look up an account

    • Send a payment link to the client

Preapproved status

If the client has a preapproved CareCredit offer:

  • Shepherd opens the CareCredit offer workflow

  • Clients can review and accept their available offer before payment

Check status workflow

If the client does not yet have a known financing status:

  • Shepherd opens the CareCredit prequalification workflow

  • With their consent, see if they prequalify for the CareCredit credit card.

Account lookup

Account lookup supports:

  • Name and phone number

  • Account number

  • Social Security Number

When available, Shepherd pre-fills client information including:

  • Name

  • Address

  • Phone number

  • Email address

Payment amount handling

Payment amounts are locked after the transaction begins to prevent invoice/payment discrepancies between Shepherd and CareCredit.

If the payment amount needs to change:

  • The current transaction must be canceled

  • A new payment workflow must be started from the invoice

Payment completion and writeback

After a payment using CareCredit is approved:

  • Shepherd automatically records the payment on the invoice

  • The invoice balance updates automatically

  • Payment details write back to the client financial record

  • Payment records include CareCredit reference information

Send-to-device workflows

Shepherd can send secure CareCredit links directly to a client’s mobile device for:

  • Applications

  • Preapproved credit offer acceptance

  • Payment completion

This workflow is useful for:

  • Contactless checkout

  • Exam room payment collection

  • Remote approvals

Refunds

Shepherd can link users to CareCredit refund workflows from the invoice payment experience.

Refund approval and processing occur within CareCredit before completed refund details sync back into Shepherd.

Before issuing a refund, the invoice must show a negative balance. A negative balance can be created by:

  • Returning a product

  • Applying a discount

  • Removing or canceling a line item

Once the invoice shows a negative balance:

  1. Open the invoice.

  2. Click Issue Refund.

  3. Turn the Shepherd Pay toggle off.

  4. Select CareCredit as the refund method.

  5. Enter the refund amount.

  6. Click Check Out.

Refund behavior includes:

  • Full refunds from the payment record

  • Partial refunds from the invoice workflow

  • Locked refund amounts after submission

  • Multiple partial refunds against the same payment

  • Automatic refund history updates in the client financial record

Refund records can be reviewed from:

Client Profile → Financial Tab → Payments

The payment will be listed as CareCredit Integration.

Reporting and reconciliation

Shepherd tracks CareCredit transactions in reporting workflows under:

Reporting → End of Day Report

The End of Day Report distinguishes between:

  • CareCredit

    • Legacy standalone CareCredit workflows (via the Provider Center environment)

  • CareCredit Integration

    • Payments processed through the integrated Shepherd workflow

This separation preserves historical reporting for practices that previously used standalone CareCredit workflows (via the Provider Center environment) before enabling the integration. Learn more about the End of Day Report.

Need Help?

For CareCredit enrollment, financing, or account questions, contact the CareCredit support team - (800) 859-9975, Option 1, then 6.

For Shepherd workflow or integration behavior questions, contact Shepherd Support via the in-app chat.

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