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Bad debt accounts

KELLY PERFETTI 5 years ago in Accounting/Collections Modules updated by Shondell 5 years ago 17

How do others flag their Bad Debt accounts so that their admin schedulers know to collect the money before making an appointment.  We are seeing that our schedulers aren't seeing this because the pop alert comes after the appointment is made.  Is there a way to have a flashing color on those clients.  If anyone has any insite on how to catch these I'd appreciate it.

We flag our accounts by capping the name.  So anytime our staff see a name in caps, it means that we are having financial difficulties with them and to look at the notes in the notes tab for further information/bad debt amount owed by the client.

I do not know of a good solution as of yet, but that is not a safe way to do it.  IF the database were normalized and the names corrected then you would not know which clients were a problem.

Here at our clinic I put an Important Note in the client's account which in turn blinks at the scheduler when appointments are being made, this has been an ok process for us but sometimes is still missed.

So do you look the client up in the clients module, then schedule or do you start in the appointments module?

We alert the clients account but that doesn't come up until you choose that clients name for the appointment.  Wondering if somehow the color of the name can change for clients accounts that are in bad debt

They are suppose to be looking client up in the clients module to begin with to see if there are any alerts on the account. 

I agree, but that is a little inefficient when the phone keeps ringing.

I wish there was a way that alerts were shown on the appointment screen to save time.

The color change for the name is not a great idea as some people are color blind (me)....

I like the idea of color change for the name that would help in all modules then right?

We have created our own copay note, which flashes in the appointment itself and on the right-hand dash in the Appointments Module, and a Do Not Schedule note - same flashing elements. It tends to help with clinicians as well, for private payers who require an auth for 90837's - alerting them to not schedule unless they get prior approval. With custodial issues being what they are now, we are working on a flashing custody note, as well.

Sarah, 

How did you set up the note so it was able to flash within the appointment box? I have asked procentive several times and was told they could only do right hand module note. This would be so helpful!

We do this as well.  We set up a client alert.  The note blinks in the appointment module.  When the receptionist sees the note she knows to tell the client she cannot schedule them until the account is paid in full.

Jami,

In the Client Module, on the Notes Tab. You click on the blue link 'modify client note types' and I check the box next to 'Flash in appointments' and also select 'Appointments also' in the 'Show' drop-down menu. They flash with an orange highlight - it is really nice! I also check the box next to 'Show in Client Module Table.' That way, if I see the box color for my Do Not Schedule note, I can double-check the balance on those clients to see if the note is able to be removed.

OK, I Know i tried that and it did not show unless it was in the right pane after the appointment was created, but now it works!

Thanks you!!

But we are scheduling from the appointment tab not the client tab so it doesnt flash until after you put the client down for an appointment

no it works you have it setup like this:

Then it will work when you add the client, it shows up in the middle:

Yes, that is true - it won't show up until you attach the client to the appointment - and we do put an explanation as to why you can't schedule. I will type in "07/25/2019 - Do Not Schedule - transfer to Sarah P. No Insurance" or something like that in the note itself, in the Client Module - so scheduling staff will be able to tell the client there is a hold on the chart and they need to speak with billing prior to scheduling. It's not a perfect solution, but it does pop up right away in the appointment as you schedule it.