Dropping balance to patient

juggernautsei wrote on Tuesday, January 19, 2016:

Demi asked the question below:

I have discovered a problem with the patient balances. If a patient over pays one month and then does not pay next month to compensate the over payment, the system is not recognizing the over payment and generating the patient a statement for amount that they did not pay.

Example:

11/11/15 pt has an over payment of $35.00
12/11/15 pt does not pay $35.00 copay so that their responsibility will now be $0.00
I run statements on 1/1/16 and the system generates a statement for $35.00 for date of service 12/11/15.

Can you fix this, so that when all the insurance companies are marked as complete, that any credit is recognized by the system as the patients credit so that we are not billing patients for balances that they are not responsible for? I don’t have a patient for you as an example right now as I am trying to fix them when the patient calls about them. If another patient calls with this problem I will mark it to fix but let you look at it first if you need an example.

I know the system automatically does what she is saying it does not do. What do I need to tell her?

fsgl wrote on Tuesday, January 19, 2016:

Tell Demi that one day a kind-hearted donor will give the Project a bundle of cash so we will have a way to record unapplied payments.

Until that day, tell Demi she must record the overpayment in EOB Posting - Invoice as a credit balance for the penultimate date of service. Be certain that the Adj. box is zero, otherwise the credit balance will be wiped out automatically.

When the patient comes in again (12/11/15), adjust out the credit balance from the prior visit & reapply it to this visit. If patient paid with a check; enter the check number, date of posting & that payment is credited to patient, not Ins 1 or Ins 2. Also check that “Done With” remains “None” because Demi has billed no insurers yet.

Not a very elegant workaround, but if Demi has a fairy godmother, they need to talk; so we can get the much needed feature.

juggernautsei wrote on Tuesday, January 19, 2016:

Thank you kind sir, I will keep wishing on a star, up above the world so high like a diamond in the sky…

juggernautsei wrote on Tuesday, January 19, 2016:

How hard would it would it be to make this work correctly. Could you give me an outline to work with. I’ll see if I still have any fairy dust or picsy dust or something magical…

fsgl wrote on Tuesday, January 19, 2016:

A starting point would

  1. an “Add Unapplied Payment” button in Billing view.
  2. date of payment.
  3. hard coded for “Unapplied Payment”.
  4. amount paid, check/cash, from patient/insurer.

There should also be an “Apply Unapplied Payment” button in each EOB Posting - Invoice. This button would be used to apply overpayment to a future charge & delete the unapplied amount at the same time, or it can be used to send refund to patient/insurer.

Thank you for volunteering.

juggernautsei wrote on Tuesday, January 19, 2016:

Number 1. the button. What is the button suppose to do when it is clicked?

fsgl wrote on Tuesday, January 19, 2016:

When button is pressed, another frame pops up to enter 2, 3, 4 & then the payment is subtracted from Total Balance in Billing widget.

juggernautsei wrote on Wednesday, January 20, 2016:

Ok, I have enough to get started. Get back to you when ready for testing.

fsgl wrote on Wednesday, January 20, 2016:

Godspeed.

juggernautsei wrote on Friday, January 22, 2016:

Can you contact me a my sherwin at openmedpractice dot com?
Thank you,

fsgl wrote on Friday, January 22, 2016:

Will do so when I get home. Now out-of-town.