Post Patient Credit

 

Note: On the Post Patient Credit page, the Payment type defaults to Unapplied Credit if the patient has only unapplied credit. If the patient has prepayment plans with stored money, that money is available in the Payment menu.

1. Display the Post Patient Credit page by searching for a patient or a claim.
• On the Patient Actions Bar, click Billing, and then click Post Payment from Patient Credit.
• In the text box at the top right of your screen, enter the claim ID, select Claim ID from the search menu, and click the search icon. On the Claim Edit page, click the Post from patient credit link at the top of the page.
  The Post Patient Credit page shows you only the open charges for the specific claim that you entered.

Note: The amount of unapplied credit available appears at the top of the page above the list of claims. You cannot apply more than this amount.

2. Locate the charge item to which you want to apply the unapplied balance. (The word PATIENT indicates that this charge is the patient's responsibility.) You can apply the patient balance only to charges that indicate PATIENT responsibility.
3. Pmt $ — Enter the payment amount.
   Note: You can also enter the payment amount in the detailed posting fields. (Display and hide the fields in the detailed view by clicking the charge line (+n #nnnnn: mm/dd/yyyy)).
   
4. Check# — If you received a check, enter the check number in this field.
5. Outstanding $ — The outstanding amount for this line item. athenaOne automatically calculates this amount based on the amounts entered in the other fields. (This amount should be $0 when you complete the transaction.)
6. Select one of these actions.
   • If your work is done, click Save.
     A success message appears at the top of the page. athenaOne automatically creates and closes a payment batch for this unapplied credit transaction.
   • If you want to display the detailed posting fields, click the charge line.
     Note: To display and hide the fields in the detailed view, click the charge line (+n #nnnnn: mm/dd/yyyy).

Detailed posting fields

7. Payment — Select Unapp.Cr from the menu.
   The Unapp.Cr option appears in the Payment menu only if the patient has unapplied funds.
8. $ — Enter the unapplied amount to apply to the charge in the $ field next to the Payment menu.
9. Other Adjustment — Select the adjustment type from the menu, and enter the adjustment amount to apply to the charge in the $ field next to the Other Adjustment menu.
10. Custom Adj Code — Enter a custom adjustment code, if needed.
    Note: You can create and administer custom transaction codes using the Custom Transaction Codes page.
11. Kick/Remit Code — Enter the kick code or remit code associated with this payment. You can type a period in the field to access the Kick Code Lookup tool.
    When you enter the code, the kick reason description appears below the Kick/Remit Code field.
12. Outstanding — The outstanding amount for this line item. athenaOne automatically calculates this amount based on the amounts entered in the other fields (this amount should be $0 when you complete the transaction).
13. Click Save.
    A success message appears at the top of the page. athenaOne automatically creates and closes a payment batch for this unapplied credit transaction.

 

Note: On the Post Patient Credit page, the Payment type defaults to Unapplied Credit if the patient has only unapplied credit. If the patient has prepayment plans with stored money, that money is available in the Payment menu.

1. Display the Post Patient Credit page by searching for a patient or a claim.
• On the Patient Actions Bar, click Billing, and then click Post Payment from Patient Credit.
• In the text box at the top right of your screen, enter the claim ID, select Claim ID from the search menu, and click the search icon. On the Claim Edit page, click the Post from patient credit link at the top of the page.
  The Post Patient Credit page shows you only the open charges for the specific claim that you entered.

Note: The amount of prepayment plan credit available appears at the top of the page above the list of claims. You cannot apply more than this amount.

2. Locate the charge item to which you want to apply the prepayment plan credit amount. (The word PATIENT indicates that this charge is the patient's responsibility.) You can apply the prepayment plan credit only to charges that indicate PATIENT responsibility.
3. Display the detailed posting fields by clicking the charge line.
   Note: To display and hide the fields in the detailed view, click the charge line (+n #nnnnn: mm/dd/yyyy).

Detailed posting fields

4. Payment — Select Prepay Credit — Plan <#> from the menu.
   If the patient has more than one prepayment plan, you see multiple Prepay Credit — Plan <#> options in the Payment menu.
5. $ — Enter the prepayment plan amount to apply to the charge in the $ field next to the Payment menu.
6. Other Adjustment — Select the adjustment type from the menu, and enter the adjustment amount to apply to the charge in the $ field next to the Other Adjustment menu.
7. Custom Adj Code — Enter a custom adjustment code, if needed.
   Note: You can create and administer custom transaction codes using the Custom Transaction Codes page.
8. Kick/Remit Code — Enter the kick code or remit code associated with this payment. You can type a period in the field to access the Kick Code Lookup tool.
   When you enter the code, the kick reason description appears below the Kick/Remit Code field.
9. Outstanding — The outstanding amount for this line item. athenaOne automatically calculates this amount based on the amounts entered in the other fields (this amount should be $0 when you complete the transaction).
10. Click Save.
    A success message appears at the top of the page. athenaOne automatically creates and closes a payment batch for this prepayment credit transaction.

 

After you post a payment and click the Save button, you can display the Post Patient Credit page for the next patient or claim without leaving the page.

1. On the Post Patient Credit page, scroll down to the Next (++) section below the charge lines.
2. Enter values in one or more of these fields.
   1. ClaimID — Enter the claim ID of the next charge on the EOB.
   2. PatientID — If the EOB does not have the claim ID, you can enter the athenaOne patient ID.
   3. Service date — Enter the date of service associated with the claim.
      If you need to post patient credits for the same patient that you just posted to, you can use this field to display only the charges for the date of service that you specify in this field.
3. Click Save to display the Post Patient Credit page for the next patient or claim.

 

By default, athenahealth uses the information returned with the patient payment stub to post payments to the claims billed on that statement.

• If the patient returns payment with the stub, pays the entire statement amount, and the outstanding amount for the claims billed on that statement has not changed in the interim, athenahealth posts the payment to those claims only.
• If the payment stub is not returned or if any of the above conditions are not met, athenahealth uses the advanced unapplied algorithms to post the payment.

If you do not want to use this feature, please contact the CSC.

 

 

The Post Patient Credit page includes the following sections (see the Field Reference for descriptions of the fields on this page).

 

Open Charges section

The Open Charges section displays the show all charges or show open/overpaid charges link. This section also displays the patient's Unapplied Credit, Prepay Credit, or both.

 

Each open patient charge item begins with a line that looks similar to this one:

 

(+1) #52527: 01/03/2022 - 99213 - $15.00 BLUE SHIELD-CA: [PPO] [29413]/*PATIENT* COPAY

 

The red type indicates the responsible party (insurance package or patient).

 

Each item on the charge line provides the following information:

• (+n) — A shortcut to open and close the detailed view of a charge line. To use this shortcut, set NumLock on your keyboard. On your numeric keypad, type the plus sign (+) followed by a number to open or close the detailed view of the corresponding charge line item.
• #nnn — The claim ID number assigned by athenaOne.
• mm/dd/yyyy — The date of service for the charge.
• 99999 — The procedure code for the charge.
• $nnn.nn — The charge amount.
• Package name [99999] — The insurance package name and athenaOne-assigned insurance ID. For self-pay patients and for charges that have been transferred to the patient, the word *PATIENT* appears. When the charge is outstanding to the patient, the type of transfer also appears, for example, *PATIENT* COPAY.

When you place your cursor over a charge item, the item turns yellow. Click anywhere on the line to expand the charge item (click the line again to condense the item). When you expand the charge item, additional fields appear, along with a link to edit claim.

 

Next (++) section

Below the charge items is a navigation tool that allows you to find the next patient or claim. You can use the fields to enter the next patient's claim ID, patient ID, or the service date. When you click Save, the page reloads with the specified patient or claim.

 

 

You can use your numeric keypad to enter all information. The plus (+) key serves as the escape key; it precedes all command sequences.

 

You can view a list of generic athenaOne kick codes using the View Kick Reasons page.

 

Keyboard Shortcuts
+line number (for example, +2)	Open or close the detailed view of the specified charge line.
+line number- (for example, +2-)	Place the cursor in the Kick/Remit Code field of the specified charge line.
++	Go to the next patient ID field.
+ENTER	Save information and move on to the next patient.