What To Do When a Patient Pays Ahead

When a patient pays off their copay balance earlier than expected, but you do not wish to deactivate their contract, here is what to do:

1. Enter the patient's copayment. Use Action > New Transaction or Command T.
2. You will see the payment amount as a credit in the Due Now. If the patient has paid off the entire copay balance, the credit amount will match the Future Due amount:

3. Open the patient's contract worksheet; go to the Contracts/Ledgers tab and double-click on the contract total. You will see the monthly copay charges the patient was originally going to make in the Patient Copay column on the far right.

4. Edit the contract to reflect the large payment the patient made.
   1. Click Add Charge at End.
   2. Date the new charge with tomorrow's date.
   3. For the new charge, make the amount in the Amount column zero. This will keep the contract total from increasing.
   4. For the new charge, enter the amount of the large payment the patient made in the Patient Copay column.
   5. Double-click each of the monthly amounts the patient was originally going to make; change them all to zero. IMPORTANT: Leave the amounts in the Amount column alone. These need to remain intact for insurance claims purposes.
5. Verify that the Contract Total and Calculated Insurance are the same as they were before your edits.

6. If everything looks correct, click Record Contract. The charge you entered will drop down the next day and zero out the credit in Due Now.