write offs
Answered
Hi, I am new to SP. Can someone tell me a little about "write-offs" and how and when to use them?
-
It is a means of balance your account. When you have a contract with the insurance company they will pay only a certain amount for a certain code. This is the "allowable" or contractual obligation. Once they have paid that part and listed if the patient has any responsibility such as a copay or coinsurance, the rest is a write off as there is no one to charge for the remaining amount. You add that to show there are no payments that need to be made on that account once everything has paid out.
-
When you look at the payment in the insurance screen, you can edit the payment. Find the patient you need to write off then click the arrow to the right of the write off column and it automatically inserts the amount for you. However, its best to check the math on it in case there is patient responsibility or payment from another date for the same claim
-
Hi Jasmine,
Thank you so much for providing this wonderful support!
As Jasmine described, you can enter an insurance write off on a manual insurance payment. You can learn more here: Adding insurance payments.
If a client is Self-Pay and you would like to give them a discount, there are two options:
- Create a default custom rate for the client by going to their profile > clicking Edit > Billing and Insurance > updating the Client Default Services > clicking Save Client. Learn more here: Setting a default service code and custom rate for a client. When you create a custom rate for a client, appointments you create after making this update will default to this new rate.
- On a past appointment, enter a Write Off amount by going to the client's Billing tab > clicking Edit to the right of the relevant appointment > confirming the appointment Type is set to Self-Pay > updating the Write Off field > clicking Save. For more information on updating Write Off amounts for Self-Pay appointments, feel free to check out this Help Center guide: Changing the fee for individual appointments. Note that amounts you enter in these Write Off fields will be included in your year end Tax Report on your Reports page.
On superbills, the amount listed in the Paid column will be the amount that is listed on a Paid invoice for that date of service. Amounts that have been written off will not be charged to clients and will not appear on invoices.
For tax guidance, I recommend reaching out to an accountant.
Finally, for future reference, although we're periodically monitoring the Community Forum, this is also a place for customers to exchange ideas and engage with one another on how to best use our platform, and we truly appreciate you acting as resources for one other.
The quickest way to get support for account-specific questions is to send us a help request by clicking the blue question mark > Get Help option on the lower right of your SimplePractice account. For more details, feel free to check out this Help Center guide: Logging in to SimplePractice and submitting help requests. You can also reach us on our Live Chat feature, offered Monday - Friday, 6am - 7pm PT with a few exceptions for company meetings (you can view the full Live Chat details here).
Post is closed for comments.
Comments
13 comments