How Your Day Changes with Wellness Plans: A Deep Dive

With the launch of wellness plans in Shepherd, users can create structure around preventive care and recurring payments. What’s included, what isn’t, and what changes when wellness plans live inside your workflow instead of outside of it.

Before integration, wellness plan enrollment often meant:

• Switching systems
• Rebuilding services manually
• Managing payments elsewhere
• Reconciling reports later

That’s friction. Inside Shepherd, plans are built using the same products and services you already use. Enrollment happens from the patient’s profile. Plan visibility appears in the SOAP. Payments are managed through Shepherd Pay.

That means fewer clicks and fewer “let me open another tab” moments. But what about setup?

How to create a wellness plan in Shepherd

Creating wellness plans for every client doesn’t require custom development. It’s a structured configuration inside the system you already use.

Here’s how it works.

Step 1: Navigate to Wellness Plans

In the Admin section of Shepherd, select Wellness Plans from the drop-down menu.

This is where you’ll create, edit, and manage all plans.

Step 2: Create a new wellness plan

When selecting “New Plan” and reaching the New Wellness Plan page:

• Enter a clear, client-friendly plan name (this appears in the Pet Portal and client communications).
• Add a brief description explaining what the plan includes (also visible to clients).

Right away, this encourages clarity. Plans aren’t internal-only constructs. They’re client-facing commitments.

Step 3: Define the structure

Next, you configure the operational details:

• Select a product category (for reporting visibility).
• Determine if the plan is species-specific.
• Choose the plan type: recurring or one-time.
• Enter the plan duration (e.g., 2 months).

This structure creates guardrails. It defines expectations before enrollment even happens.

Step 4: Set pricing Logic

From there, you can:

• Apply a uniform discount across all included items (if desired).
• Add products and services from your existing inventory.
• Quantities automatically calculate pricing based on current service rates.
• Allow substitutions if clinically appropriate.

Because services are tied to existing Shepherd items, pricing stays aligned with your actual fee schedule. No double-entry. No custom shadow pricing. 

Note: The system will show the retail price and let users choose the plan price and enrollment fees, then select tax or disclaimers. 

Step 5: Finalize terms and publish

Once pricing and terms are set:

• Review plan details.
• Confirm payment structure.
• Publish the plan.

Now, your plan becomes available for enrollment. 

Enrollment: What changes at the front desk

When a client is ready to enroll:

• Open the patient’s profile.
• Click “Enroll”
• Select the Wellness Plans tab.
• Choose the appropriate plan.
• Set up recurring payments (through Shepherd Pay).

Enrollment happens in the same environment where you already manage the patient.

No switching systems, manual payment setup outside the PIMS, or reconciliation guesswork later.

Plan indicators are visible in the patient profile and inside the SOAP, so doctors and technicians can immediately see enrollment status during the visit. That visibility is where workflow transformation happens.

Preventive care becomes structured

When wellness plans are embedded into your day, included services are visible, tracking shows what’s been completed, and remaining services are easy to identify. Plan status appears directly in the medical workflow.

This structure changes team behavior. Technicians are more likely to schedule pending diagnostics. Doctors are more confident recommending included services. CSRs can quickly answer, “Is that covered?”

Preventive care shifts from optional to organized, and organized care improves compliance.

Recurring revenue stops feeling abstract

When recurring payments live outside your PIMS, they feel detached from daily operations.

When they live inside Shepherd:

• Payment frequency is flexible (monthly, biannually, annually).
• Plans renew automatically.
• Recurring revenue becomes visible in the same system as your invoices.
• There are no re-keying totals between platforms.

That improves forecasting. Predictable revenue doesn’t mean “guaranteed.” It means “visible and structured.”

Charge capture stays clean

Wellness plans only strengthen revenue if documentation and billing stay aligned. If it’s in the medical record, it’s on the invoice.

From estimate to treatment plan to invoice, it flows seamlessly.

When included services are tied to plan items:

• Fewer charges slip through.
• Adjustments are visible.
• Discharge instructions stay connected.
• End-of-day cleanup decreases.

Predictable revenue requires both attendance and accuracy. Wellness plans support the first. Workflow alignment protects the second.

It changes conversations with clients

When wellness plans are easy to enroll, clearly structured, and visible in the workflow, the tone changes from “Would you like to add this?” to “This is how we structure preventive care.”

That shift strengthens client trust, retention, and lifetime value

What this feature does not do (yet)

To be transparent, as of right now, there are no collections workflows for overdue balances, self-enrollment via client portal, multi-site management, or an advanced reporting suite (but stay tuned!).

This release prioritizes workflow integration first because if enrollment and payments aren’t seamless inside your day, advanced capabilities won’t matter.

Predictable revenue, cleaner workflows

With Shepherd, wellness plans stop being something you manage manually and start being something your system supports automatically.

Instead of extra tabs and reconciliation projects, you get:

• Clear enrollment flow
• Built-in recurring billing
• Visible preventive structure
• Seamless estimate-to-invoice alignment

And a steadier foundation for preventive care.

If you’d like to see how plan creation, enrollment, usage tracking, and recurring payments work inside a real appointment workflow, we’d be glad to walk through your most common visit type.