Gift cards are appealing because they do something every business loves: bring cash in the door now. They also do something owners often forget: create a deferred obligation — a promise to deliver future service — that lands on your books as a liability. Used deliberately, gift cards aid cash flow and bring in new patients; mishandled, they become an accounting and service headache. The key is treating the cash and the obligation as the two distinct things they are.
This is general education for owners, not financial or legal advice.