Is there a way to apply charges to a specific session?
Answered
I am fee for service so my clients pay me directly, on different schedules (weekly, biweekly, monthly, etc). When I receive e-transfer payments I sometimes get confused which sessions have already been paid. Is there a way to apply specific payment to specific session. Also is there a way to stop generating invoices at the client level and do this manually when it's time for an invoice to be sent out?
Thanks for your suggestions!
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Official comment
Hi Vera,
I hope you're doing well. I've provided answers to both of your questions below:
1. I am fee for service so my clients pay me directly, on different schedules (weekly, biweekly, monthly, etc). When I receive e-transfer payments I sometimes get confused which sessions have already been paid. Is there a way to apply specific payment to specific session?
Currently it's not possible to assign specific payments to certain sessions. When a payment is added to a client's billing page, it will be applied to the oldest payable invoices. For example, if there is an 1/1/19 invoice for $25 and a 1/2/19 invoice for $20, then a $20 payment will be applied to the 1/2/19 invoice. For more detailed information, please refer to this Help Center guide: How are payments allocated to invoices?
2. Also is there a way to stop generating invoices at the client level and do this manually when it's time for an invoice to be sent out?
Currently there's no way to stop generating invoices at the client level if automated invoices have been set to generate at the practice level. Ultimately, our automated billing system was designed to generate invoices on the practice level to help clinicians keep track of all of their clients' billing. You can however delete invoices on the client level as needed and then recreate them.
Comment actions -
Is is not possible to allocate payments to specific sessions if it is done through the fly out window in the calendar? I believe that's what I learned a long time ago from SP and I think that seems to play out that way when I do it. So, a newer invoice can be paid for a specific session in the fly out but if you make the payment on the billing page it goes directly to the oldest balance.
It really would be very helpful to be able to assign payments to particular sessions more easily!
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Hi Annabelle,
What you're describing is correct. Session fees, invoices, and payments are all separate entities in the billing system. What you're describing is applying a payment to a specific invoice, and that invoice only includes the session fee for one specific session. The Add Payment option that appears on the fly out window is the same option that appears if you open an invoice directly from the client's billing page.
Applying payments to invoices rather than sessions allows for more flexibility in different accounting scenarios. If you need a payment to cover a specific session fee, I recommend using the calendar flyout, or the "Add Payment" option that appears when you open that specific invoice. The "Add Payment" option on the sidebar of the billing page is more useful for situations where a client is carrying a balance from multiple invoices, and is making a payment towards that outstanding balance.
You can learn more about different billing options in our Client Billing class.
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Thanks Brian. I was mostly offering this to the previous poster, but glad to know I have it right. It would be really helpful to be able to have more flexibility with this. Like we often take larger payments and sometimes have the need to make them apply to specific sessions that are later than prior unpaid sessions and that’s very tricky, and more or less impossible if the payment is done through integrated Stripe cc processing. Thanks
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I send invoices manually for insurance co-pays and deductibles. I sometimes have clients pay in cash, in excess of invoice. I would like to generate an invoice for the next month that displays the surplus payment subtracts the surplus payment from the amount due for the following month. I have tried generating a statement instead of an invoice, but the statement does not show amount due. Thanks.
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I am trialing simple practice for a month. Can't trial the billing part. Above concerns would concern me, too. Anyone have experience with other programs like my clients plus, therapy notes, etc. and feel like this is the easiest? It's probably the most important part of what I need...the billing part...
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Not sure if this is the same thing but I assign the service date when I enter a payment. There are many places to change the date and when I catch them all then I have a cleaner record, Most of the time I can go back and edit the date on the invoice and the payment,
In the insurance payment received page I change the date at the top for payer and then in the client's session, I also change the received date.
Maybe because I am manually entering in the payments it's time consuming but easy to do.
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I am so frustrated with the inefficiency of the invoicing for zero balances and billing-driven patient status. PLEASE MAKE THE CPT CODE (not the patient) BILLABLE, OR NOT. GIVE US THE OPTION.
I w/w Medicaid. Monthly reports to ancillary collaborators in a multi-disciplinary perspective require an easing of invoicing to anyone, yet the importance of of being included in an ethical record is vital to documentation.
The invoices and statements I DO want to generate don't have diagnostic codes on them, so I have to use the Super-bill option. When patients change plans (moving from plan to plan) it's a lot of monitoring that eats time and money. Having dx's on invoices, statements, and superbills is important.
I urge SP to allow clinicians to designate CPT codes to be billable or not, rather than patients. This also separates patients from the labels of their CPT/Dx codes and allows for reports and meetings that are not billable, as MH moves toward multi-disciplinary practices.
I urge SP to allow dx's to be populated to invoices, statement, and super-bills.
Finally, I urge SP to implement a safeguard to prevent claims from being submitted to insurance, or to the patient for payment when a progress note is not written. To allow a claim to be submitted prior to a progress note being written is a serious ethical violation, IMHO. There are not enough safeguards in place to insure ethical NASW filing and billing.
I have an ethical obligation to my patients, first and foremost. An ethical EHR supports that ethical obligation between provider and patient.
I want a SIMPLE work-flow.
Pauline Q - I also feel trapped - by the time zone differences, inability to call for easy-to-answer-questions, and emails that attempt to diffuse questions by "hoping I'm having a good weekend". If I was having a good weekend, I wouldn't be sending support emails.
I want an EHR that doesn't force me to work on weekends solving problems, so don't wish me well. If I'm emailing on a weekend - I'm working overtime, and that's a problem SP can solve.
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I had the same questions about how to allocate insurance payments to specific dates of service. The Simple Practice automatic-allocation of payments to the oldest unpaid date of service freaked me out as I have spent many hours, over the years, on the phone with one insurance company or another trying to reconcile insurance reimbursement mistakes and it made me very nervous not to have an entire EOB/ERA with specific line items to look at when allocating payments.
What I've found is, that you can click on 'Billing', which appears on the vertical menu on the upper left side of every page of Simple Practice, and it will automatically open to the 'Recent Transactions' page where there is a list of every transaction. Scroll down to any entry entitled 'Insurance Payment' and click to see all the client dates of service covered by that insurance payment. It includes the check/wire#; payment date etc. and links to even more detailed info by client (just like and EOB/ERA).
I print a hard copy and save a digital copy for my records, just for my nerves, in case there is ever any reason that I need to know exactly which payment was automatically-allocated to which date of service.
Phew!!! I thought that this issue was going to be a deal-breaker for me and Simple Practice, which would have been a real shame since I think Simple Practice offers so many great features at a reasonable price. The functionality that I was looking for was there, I just couldn't find it in the way that I was accustomed to, and Customer Support didn't have an answer for me.
I think customer support is motivated and responsive, but seems to sometimes fail to understand the importance and minutia of billing processes experienced by clinicians.
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I have this same issue, and really, it's incredibly problematic as I can't run any accurate reports, and payments going to the oldest invoice really mucks things up when you are cash and Insurance. Please let us know if there are any plans to fix this, So I can decide how to proceed in the future. As it is now, I have to go do a whole bunch of extra work my streamlining with simple practice was supposed to reduce.
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Hi Virginia, we're working on several enhancements to our Billing feature. I'd recommend voting and commenting on this feature request calling for the Ability to apply payments to specific invoices. If there is specific information you'd like to collect from your account, or look into a specific client's billing, we'd be happy to further assist you. Reach out to our Customer Success Team by submitting an email Help Request.
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2 year old issue yet to actually be addressed - I have contacted Sp 2-3 times to hear "working on it" and here I am on a lovely Friday deciphering where a client's credit balance came about when I should be skipping out of work early because the expensive SW my boss (over)pays for follows basic accounting concepts and has a basic function (in every other SW I have used) that gives the use control over how payments are applied. Maybe I am missing where I can view a payment and see where it has been applied?
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