Summit Payments

What Summit Payments does

Summit Payments LLC is a Denver, Colorado-based payment processing company founded in 2020 that serves U.S. dental practices. Its single core product is a Visa- and Mastercard-registered compliant credit card surcharging program integrated natively into five major dental Practice Management Systems (Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental, DSN, and PracticeWorks). The program recovers an average of $16,200 per practice per year by shifting credit card processing fees to patients at the point of payment, while automating transaction posting directly into the practice's PMS to eliminate manual reconciliation.

Summit is active in 46 U.S. states (legally permitted in 48, with restrictions in Alaska, Connecticut, and Massachusetts) and reports zero compliance violations across its 35+ practice client base. Its proprietary features include a PMS integration layer for automated posting, a Visa/Mastercard-compliant surcharge program, and a custom savings-analysis calculator that reviews a practice's processing statement to project recoverable revenue. The company claims a 43% average surcharge hit rate and 98% patient acceptance of the disclosed fee.

The business model is a hybrid subscription-plus-transaction structure: a $60/month per-practice platform fee plus debit card processing costs (1.75% + $0.25 per transaction on a 40% debit mix), with credit card fees passed through to the patient via compliant surcharge. Summit's go-to-market is consultative direct sales, anchored by a free 15-minute "Checkup" that reviews the prospect's processing statement and quantifies the recovery opportunity. The company operates with 1-10 employees, no disclosed external funding, and is led by founder Brendon Degner.

Name

Summit Payments

Legal name

Summit Payments LLC

Website

https://summitpaymentsco.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Summit Payments is a Denver-based payments company that helps U.S. dental practices recover credit card processing fees through Visa/Mastercard-compliant surcharging programs integrated with major dental practice management systems. It serves 35+ SMB dental practices across 46 states on a $60/month subscription plus debit processing model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Dental Payment Processing

NAICS

Offices of Dentists (62121), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232)

SIC

Hospital & Medical Service Plans (6324)

akta.pro primary industry

Membership/Subscription & Direct-Pay General Dentistry Practices (HLABAAAI)

Keywords

• Payment processing
• Merchant services
• Credit card surcharging
• Dental payment processing
• POS systems

Headquarters

HQ city

Aurora

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Monthly Platform Fee: Base monthly subscription fee of $60 covering platform access, compliance management, and support services. Credit card processing fees are shifted to patients through the surcharge mechanism while the practice retains 100% of their collections.
2. Debit Card Processing: Debit processing fees continue to be paid by the practice at standard rates. Credit card fees are recovered through patient surcharge while debit transactions remain a cost to the practice.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Summit Payments provides credit card payment processing and a compliant surcharging program specifically for dental practices. The service shifts credit card processing fees to patients through a Visa and Mastercard registered program, while the practice retains 100% of its collections. It integrates natively with major dental Practice Management Systems (Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental, DSN, and PracticeWorks) for automated payment posting.

Product overview

Summit Payments offers a single unified product: a dental payment processing and surcharging solution. The core offering is a compliant surcharging program that integrates natively with five major dental Practice Management Systems (Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental, DSN, and PracticeWorks) to automate payment posting and recover credit card processing fees. The product shifts card fees to patients while maintaining practice revenue at 100% of collections.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Summit Health Pay: Payment processing platform referenced as powering the company's integrations with dental practice management software.

Products and services

• Dental Payment Processing & Surcharging A compliant credit card surcharging program for dental practices that recovers 100% of card processing costs by shifting credit card fees to patients. It integrates directly into dental Practice Management Systems including Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental, DSN, and PracticeWorks for automated payment posting. Active in 46 states with zero compliance violations, with a $60/month base platform fee plus debit processing costs.

Quantifiable outcome

• Average annual recovery of $16,200 per practice
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Summit Health PaycoreTechnology or IntegrationParent/affiliated platform powering Summit Payments' technology infrastructure. Referenced as 'Powered by Summit Health Pay' indicating shared technology stack and brand affiliation.
• DentrixcoreTechnology or IntegrationDental practice management software platform with integrated payment processing capability. Summit's surcharging solution integrates directly into Dentrix for automated payment posting.
• EaglesoftcoreTechnology or IntegrationDental practice management software platform. Summit integrates its compliant surcharging program with Eaglesoft for seamless payment processing and posting.
• Open DentalcoreTechnology or IntegrationDental practice management software platform. Summit provides integrated payment processing with automatic posting into Open Dental.
• DSNcoreTechnology or IntegrationDental practice management software platform integrated with Summit's surcharging solution for automated payment processing.
• PracticeWorkscoreTechnology or IntegrationDental practice management software platform. Summit integrates its compliant surcharging program with PracticeWorks for seamless workflow integration.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Helcim: Helcim is a payment processor that offers surcharging and cash discount pricing as part of its SMB-focused interchange-plus platform. While broader than dental, it competes on the same mechanism (compliant surcharge program) and similar SMB economics.
• Rectangle Health: Rectangle Health is a payment processing and patient engagement platform focused specifically on dental and healthcare practices. It competes head-to-head with Summit by offering integrated card processing, statement messaging, and practice-management integrations to the same SMB dental customer base.
• Stax (formerly Fattmerchant): Stax is a subscription-based payment processor that actively markets surcharging and cash discount programs to SMBs across verticals including healthcare. It overlaps directly with Summit's core 'pass the fee to the cardholder' model, though Stax is multi-vertical and Summit is dental-only.
• Vyne Dental: Vyne Dental provides payment processing, electronic claims, and patient communication solutions to dental practices. It is one of the few specialists serving the same dental front-office workflow Summit targets, with comparable PMS-adjacent positioning.

Broad incumbents

• Block (Square): Block's Square provides SMB payment processing, hardware, and software that competes for the same dental front-office wallet. Square has expanded into healthcare-adjacent verticals and could enter compliant surcharging with a single product update, posing a platform-level risk to Summit.
• CareCredit (Synchrony Financial): CareCredit is the dominant healthcare-branded credit card, owned by Synchrony, and is widely accepted by dental practices. It is a broad incumbent in the dental patient-payment space and competes for the same 'how does the patient pay' conversation Summit's surcharging program enters.
• Toast: Toast is a vertical SaaS + payment platform originally built for restaurants, where surcharging and Cash Discount programs are common. While not a dental platform, its GTM motion (vertical SaaS + integrated payments + surcharging) is a credible template and a potential long-horizon competitor if Toast or a similar player decides to enter healthcare verticals.
• Stripe: Stripe is a general-purpose payment platform that increasingly serves vertical SaaS and SMB healthcare through integrations. It does not currently specialize in dental surcharging but represents the largest competitive threat if it bundles a compliance-friendly surcharge or cash-discount product for vertical SaaS partners.

Emerging players

• Sunbit: Sunbit provides patient financing (BNPL) for dental and other healthcare verticals, often integrated at the front desk. It is an adjacent rather than direct competitor, but addresses the same dental practice pain of patient affordability and is frequently evaluated alongside payment-processing solutions.
• PatientFi: PatientFi offers patient financing and payment plans to dental and aesthetic practices. Like Sunbit, it is a partial competitor/adjacent solution to surcharging for practices looking to recover revenue without passing fees directly to card-paying patients.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/summitpayments
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/summit-payments

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Summit Payments