How Late Fees Work

If your practice would like to use late fees, here is how they work in Tops Ortho.

Defaults for late fees

1. Go to Tops Ortho > Practice Setup.
2. Input your password and click OK.
3. Go to Defaults.

Minimum Balances for Late Fees

Late fees will only be charged if the patient's balance exceeds the minimum amount you determine.

In the Min Bal to Charge a Late Fee field, input an amount.

Defaults for New Accounts

The following late fee settings are applied to new accounts by default.

Sample Custom Configuration for New Accounts:

• Minimum Late Payment Fee = $25.00
• Late Fee Percentage = 10%
• Charge Date = 1 (The first day of the month; this is the most common date that practices charge contract fees)
• Grace Days = 26 (The number of days that can pass before the patient is considered "late")
• Statement Date = 28 (The day statements will generate; the 28th day of the month)
• Last Day Statements Cover = 28

How late fees will work with example above:

• Add the Charge Date (1) plus Grace Days (26) plus 1 day for rollover = 28. So the 28th of the month is when late fees will be posted, at the very end of the day (midnight).
• The statements are ready to print the morning of the 29th, but will be dated the 28th, along with late fees applied.
• If a practice has both a Late Payment Fee amount AND a Late Fee Percentage entered, Tops Ortho will charge the larger amount. For example, based on the settings listed above, if a patient has $100.00 in their due now, Tops Ortho will charge a $25.00 late fee rather than a $10.00 late fee.

Late Fee Parameters by Account Holder

Late fees can be modified per account holder, regardless of what defaults were in place when the account holder was first created.

Below is an example of statement and late fee parameters that have been modified at an account-level.  

The Group rating could possibly help identify that the patient or account holder are not timely with payments.

To review your account holder late fee settings, along with statement settings, go to Matrix>Accounts. Click the header(s) to sort. The report is hot-clickable allowing you to easily update account details.

To update all account holder to reflect the same late fee or statement settings, please reach out to Tops Support at [email protected] and request a database change form to detail your requested changes.