Posting insurance payments

You can post an insurance payment to a patient's ledger.

To post an insurance payment

1. On a patient's Ledger page, click (or tap) Payment.

   

   The Enter Payment (-) dialog box appears.

   

2. Leave the current date entered in the Transaction date box, or click (or tap) in the box to select the correct date.

   If you attempt to backdate the payment to a date that would cause it to become locked (based on your organization's transaction lock setting), the Locked Time Period pop-up box appears. In the Authorized user and Password boxes, enter your credentials if you have permission to backdate transactions into locked time periods, or have someone with permission enter his or her credentials. Then, click Unlock.

   

   Note: Backdating transactions into locked time periods requires the "Override Locked Transaction" security right.

3. Enter the Amount of the payment.

4. Select the Method of payment received from the insurance carrier: an electronic insurance payment or an insurance payment by check.

5. Enter the payment details, such as the check number, and select the applicable claim.

   Set up the following options:

   • Check # - The check number. This option is available only if the payment method is a check.

   • Reference # - The reference number of the transaction or electronic funds transfer (EFT). This option is available only if the payment method is patient financing, an electronic transfer, or an electronic insurance payment.

   • Bank/branch # - The bank account number on the check. This option is available only if the payment method is a check.

   • Partial payment - The check or electronic payment amount is less than the allowed amount or the amount billed to the insurance carrier.

   • Claim - The claim that the payment applies to. The selection cannot be changed after you save the payment.

6. To post an adjustment for the claim along with the payment, do one of the following:

   • For a write-off (credit adjustment), from the Insurance Adjustment list, select Write-off (-). Select an Adjustment Type. Then, type an amount in the Adjustment column for each procedure that the adjustment applies to. By default, a procedure's Adjustment amount is the Charge minus the Allowed amount (the insurance plan's UCR fee).

   • For an offsetting adjustment (charge adjustment), from the Insurance Adjustment list, select Offsetting (+). Select an Adjustment Type. Then, change the amount in the Applied column for any procedure if applicable. If the Insurance payment amount applied is less than the payment Amount, a charge adjustment will be posted for the difference of those two amounts. Also, any amount that you enter for a procedure's Adjustment amount will not be posted as part of a write-off adjustment.

     Note: If a write-off for the claim has been posted to the patient's ledger automatically, using an offsetting adjustment will delete the write-off. If a write-off has been calculated for the claim but is not posted in the patient's ledger, using an offsetting adjustment will cause the write-off to not be posted.

7. Change any of the following amounts for each procedure as needed (for example, if the amounts differ from what is on the EOB that you receive from the insurance carrier):

   • Allowed - By default, this is the insurance plan's UCR fee.

   • Ins Estimate - By default, this is calculated from the coverage table, remaining deductible, and remaining benefit of the patient's insurance plan.

   • Applied - By default, this is the amount of the payment that is being applied to the procedure up to the Allowed amount. The payment amount is applied automatically to the first procedure listed and then to subsequent procedures until the payment amount is used up.

   For each procedure, the Balance appears for your reference. This is the Charge minus the sum of the Other Credits, Adjustment, and Applied amounts.

   Also for your reference, the following amounts appear:

   • The Insurance payment amount applied is the sum of the amounts in the Applied column. The text turns red if the amount is less than or greater than the payment Amount. To post the payment, this amount must equal the payment Amount.

   • The Remaining amount to be applied is the payment Amount minus the Insurance payment amount applied. The text turns red if the amount is greater than zero. To post the payment, this amount must be less than or equal to zero.

   • The Amount of other credits to be reapplied is the sum of all credits in the Balance column. A credit (negative amount) appears in the Balance column for a procedure if the sum of the Applied and Adjustment amounts is more than the sum of the Charge and Other Credits amounts.

8. On the Tags tab, add tags to the payment as needed.

9. If applicable, on the Xfer Reason(s) tab, select or create reasons for a transfer of responsibility as needed.

   

   To select or create a reason, do the following:

   1. In the Add a tag search box, begin typing the name of a reason. Once you have entered at least two characters, the results list appears with any matches (not case-sensitive). Continue typing as needed to narrow the results list.

   2. Do one of the following:

      • If the correct reason is listed, select that reason to attach it.

        

      • If the correct reason does not exist, finish typing the name of the reason (spaces are allowed). Make sure that the name is capitalized as desired. Then, select + Create [reason name] to create the reason and attach it.

        

        Note: The reason that you have created is now available to all Dentrix Ascend users in your organization.

   Note: To save the payment after you add reasons for a transfer of responsibility, your user account must have the security right "Edit responsibility transfer reason" enabled.

10. On the Notes tab, enter any notes regarding the payment.

11. On the Deductibles tab, change the amounts of the payment that are being applied toward any deductibles for Major, Preventive, Basic, and/or Ortho procedures as needed (for example, if the amounts differ from what is on the EOB that you receive from the insurance carrier).

    

12. Click (or tap) Save.

13. If you are posting a payment to a primary claim, a secondary claim is created for you automatically, and the Claim Created message appears and informs you of that. To view the secondary claim immediately, click (or tap) Open Secondary Claim; otherwise, click (or tap) OK.