Payment Transfer between Accounts

[cmclean]

Can a payment be moved between patient accounts?  If not, how is the best way to handle a payment that has been posted to the incorrect account?  

[marybrotbeck]

I use code 98 to transfer money from the old account and code 96 to the new account and make a note in each transaction as to where the money went to or came from.

This has worked well for me for 21 years on Softdent.  Hope it helps.

[doran109]

This is what our office does as well. It doesn't happen often but enough that I ended up creating a step by step worksheet to help employees fix the error. If you would like me to send it to you, let me know.

[cmclean]

Kyndra, I would greatly appreciate that.  My email address is christie@ofs-ea.com.  Thank you!

[cmclean]

Janelle, thank you for your response and suggestions!

[jpisariktnosi]

Ugh, not without messing up your accountant! If you don't balance daily, then you could delete it from one account and post it to another. Note that whatever day you post it is the date that the system will associate it with, even if you put a different "service" date on it. What we do is we have a Debit Adjustment code and a Credit Adjustment code (like you might have a Patient Pmt vs an Insurance Pmt code). We then will debit one account and credit the other, then make a contact note. It's a little cumbersome, but since they are adjustments instead of payments, it doesn't screw up our accounting (which we do daily).

[jpisariktnosi]

I guess if you didn't want it to look funny on a pt statement, you could label them differently than "debit" and "credit", but still set them up as adjustment codes instead of pmt codes, though we've never had anyone call and question the wording we use.