Unapplied credits are funds received from a patient that have not yet been applied to any charges. These credits remain on the patient’s account, often from advance payments, until they are applied. The account will reflect the available credit balance until it is used.
Let’s look at actions related to managing credits, such as applying payments to codes, refunding unapplied credits to the patient, and adjusting off credits according to your preferences.
Topics Covered
To begin,
- Search for the patient using the Global Search Bar.
- Select the Payment quick link.
- On the Payments slide-out, select Manage Credits.
Apply to Codes
To apply the receipts to the desired code,
- Select the Receipt(s).
- Apply to Codes is selected by default.
- Select the intended Invoice(s).
- Click Apply payment.
- If the treatment location differs from the receipt location, a Warning modal appears asking you to choose Same as Payment Location or Any Location to proceed.
- Select Any Location to apply the receipt to a payment from any location and click Proceed.
- A toast notification will appear on the top-right stating, 'Payment applied successfully'.
Refund Credits to Patient
When a patient has a credit balance and no outstanding charges, they may choose to keep it for future treatment or request a refund.
Refunding a credit means returning the unapplied credit to the original payment source. Refunds can be processed from a patient receipt that contains an unallocated credit balance.
To refund credit receipts, navigate to the Manage Credits,
- Choose the Receipt(s).
- Select the Refund tab under the Step 2 section.
- Enter the required details:
- Refund Amount: Specify the amount to be refunded.
- Refund Date: Enter the target refund date.
- Payment Type: Select the payment method, such as cash, card, or another method.
- Location: Select the practice location.
- Remarks: Enter remarks if needed. You can specify the reason for initiating the refund.
- Click Refund.
- You can click Refund and Print to get a printout.
- A toast notification will appear on the top-right stating, 'Amount refunded successfully'.
Adjust Off Credits
If a patient receipt has excess credits that will not be refunded but need to be cleared (for example, at month-end to balance the books), use the Adjust Off functionality.
You can adjust off all or part of the unapplied credit directly from the receipt. To adjust-off the credit receipts, navigate to the Manage Credits section.
- Choose the Receipt(s).
- Select the Adjust-off tab under the Step 2 section.
- Enter the Adjust Off Amount.
- Enter any Remarks, if needed.
- Click Adjust-off.
Manage Permissions
To initiate a refund or adjust-off, the user must have the relevant permissions enabled in their profile. To do so,
- Navigate to the System Menu > select Practice Settings > Administration > Profiles.
- Click Manage Permissions for the intended profile.
- Select Billing on the left panel.
- Under Patient Payments, select Refund/Adjust-off Patient Payments to enable the permission.
- Click Save.
On the Confirm Action modal that appears, click Yes to proceed.
- A toast notification appears on the top right stating, 'Profile updated successfully'.
Practices can use this simple guide to learn how to perform different actions to manage unapplied credits.