Unpaid (& uncollectable) client balance
Answered
How do I account for balances due that cannot be recovered? I want to keep track of what is owed (in case the client surfaces again in the future), but I don't want the balance due to continually show up in my list - nor do I want it to impact my annual accounting. I'm not sure how to handle this issue.
Similarly, when an insurance claim is denied, how is the unpaid session fee handled from an accounting standpoint in SP?
-
Official comment
Hi Camille,
I hope your week has been lovely so far. Just to clarify, you'd like to write-off these client balances that will likely go unpaid?
First I recommend recording the remaining balance as an Administrative Note so that you can quickly view this if the client comes back.
Then, you can write-off the unpaid sessions. If your clients are self-pay, all you will need to do is navigate to the individual client's Billing Overview Page, hover over the session charge itself and select the blue 'Edit' button. Once you are in the 'Edit' screen, simply enter the write-off amount and Save. Please make sure to delete and recreate any invoices (if necessary).
This guide will walk you through those steps: How do I enter write-offs?If you're receiving payment reports, insurance fees for denied claims are automatically added to your clients' outstanding balances. If you'd like to adjust this, you can use this guide to edit session fees.
Please let me know if you have any other questions about this.
Comment actions -
But if you are not receiving payment reports, how would you write off denied claims from insurance? I attempted to add it to an entered payment but it did not reflect it due to no payment actually being made. I don't want to change the balance of the appointment. I would like to keep track of what the insurance has not reimbursed.
-
Hi Jodie, I'd be happy to help with this further. If a claim is denied and you enter a $0 payment for that claim, you'll see a message from SimplePractice that the insurance payment is $0. You can simply ignore this message and calculate the write-offs for the session, then save the insurance payment.
-
Hi Patricia,
I hope you are having a nice day. I would be happy to help.
In order to stop the copay appearing in the Client Owes section the copay can be removed from the insurance information within the Client Overview page. This will only change sessions moving forward, not past sessions. We will have to update each previous session to accurately reflect the client's balance.
Please navigate to the Client's Overview page > Billing tab. Hover over the appointment you want to remove the copay from and click the blue Edit that appears. You may receive a message, You cannot edit this appointment because it’s already on a Superbill. In this case we will have to delete the document in order to make the change. Once you can edit the appointment enter $0 in the Client Owes section. For more information, please click here: Appointment level billing changes. Please also note that waiving a client's copay may be in violation of your contract with the insurance payer. We recommend following up with the insurance payer directly for more information.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions, and I’ll be glad to assist you. -
Hi Amanda,
Here's how you can update the billing for sessions that have superbills attached:
- Delete the relevant superbill for the session by clicking Delete on the top right.
- Go to the client's Billing tab > hover over the appointment until the Edit link appears > click Edit.
- Update the appointment's billing information as needed.
- Click Save.
- Click Uninvoiced in the Billing Overview on the top right to create a fee adjustment invoice which will update the amount the client owes for this session.
- Recreate the superbill if needed.
-
Hi Djuan, go to the client's file > Billing tab. If you've created a Superbill for these appointments, you'll need to delete the Superbill before you can edit the appointment and enter a write-off. The Superbill can be found under the "Appointment," pictured here:
Click on the Superbill ("SB: #" icon) and hit Delete to the top right of the Superbill.
Once you don't have any Superbills attached to the sessions, click on each "Appointment," make sure the Billing Type is Self-Pay, enter a Write-Off amount and Save your changes. Note, you have to do this for each appointment, one by one. Here's a screenshot:
-
Hello. I read all of the questions and answers, however, I think SimplePractice is missing the point. I have past clients that will not pay a portion of their copay (or remaining balance). I want to write off their entire remaining balance without altering their "client owes" amount, as altering this would alter the records and change the paper trail.
There has to be a better way of doing this than the answers suggested above. Please help with a more efficient and accurate way to write off these remaining balances, or suggest a way to IT so this can be resolved.
Thank you.
-
Agree. Having same issues. It would be helpful to have a way for the PROVIDER to have an option for adjusting the payment. The forced options within the program are from the insurance company and the patient payment. Some of the Support comments offer assistance at the 'individual appointment' level. I'd like to apply adjustments (in my case, writing off a range of patient co-pays) to a range of appointments, but have been unable to find a way to do that.
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
15 comments