Prepare Deposit Batch

athenaCollector

This page allows you to create a new deposit batch.

Step-by-step instructions

To create a new remittance deposit batch

Display the Prepare Deposit Batch page: On the Manage Deposit Batches page, click Create New Deposit Batch.
Deposit Date — Enter the deposit date for the new deposit batch.
Deposit Slip # — Enter the deposit slip number.
Deposit Location — Select the appropriate deposit location. Refer to the display at the top of the page to view the details for each deposit location.
Note: athenaOne automatically selects the bank account for this deposit batch based on the deposit location you select.
Deposit Amt — Enter the total amount of the deposit as it appears on the bank deposit slip (not just the amount that you expect to be posted against services in athenaOne).
Note: The Out-Of-Balance amount at the far right displays the difference between the Deposit Amt and the sum of the payment batch amounts that you will enter (see below).
Bank Deposit Type — Select the bank deposit type for this deposit batch. This field describes by what means the deposit was made at the bank, such as by Cash & Check, Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), MasterCard & Visa, etc.
Checks Deposited By Site? — Select Yes if the checks were deposited by the practice; otherwise, select No.
Notes — Enter any notes.

Select the payment batches for this deposit batch

Tab down to the Enter Payment Batches section.
Target Amount — Enter the target amount of each constituent payment batch. (A new row appears each time you enter an amount.)
Target Amount — Enter the target amount of the first payment batch.
Route — Select the payment batch route for this payment batch.
Paper — Select paper if this is a paper batch; select No Paper if this is an electronic batch.
Check # — Enter the payment batch check number, if applicable.
Notes — Enter any notes.
Note: If your practice assigns batches to specific staff members, you should enter the name, initials, or username of the designated staffer in the Notes field.
Repeat this for each payment batch in this deposit batch.
Note that as you enter payment batches, the Out-Of-Balance amount adjusts. When you finish entering your payment batches, the Out-Of-Balance amount must be $0. (If not, athenaOne will not allow you to proceed.)
To finish, click Save. The Edit Deposit Batch page appears, displaying the ID of your deposit batch in the title bar at the top of the page. At the bottom of the page is a Payment Batch Detail section, listing the constituent payment batches. Each payment batch is now listed with its payment batch ID.

On the Edit Deposit Batch page

Scroll down to the Payment Batch Detail section. Note the ID number for each payment batch and mark the payment batch ID numbers on the EOBs that they were created for. This will be very important to ensure that your payment posters work in the correct batch.

Best practice for posting batches

Ensure that your athenaOne manual deposit batches and payment batches are opened for the correct amount.
Complete all fields accurately (bank account, deposit date, etc.). Do not select "Unknown" as the bank account when creating a deposit batch if at all possible.
Do not use manual batches to collect patient money — instead, please use the Collect Payment time-of-service money workflow for this purpose.
Financial actions in a payment batch should be tied to an athenaOne deposit batch, which in turn should be tied to true bank account activity for those transactions (financial actions are items such as refunds, payment posting, and payment voids).
Create a manual payment batch each day to post transfers, adjustments, or insurance refunds, and close the payment batch at the end of that day.
Note: A nightly script automatically closes manual payment batches with $0 target amounts that are in balance and were opened within the last 30 days. This feature does not apply to time-of-service payment batches.
Do not change or void athenahealth posting. If you do, you assume full responsibility for the posting. If additional remittance is obtained from the payer or the posting needs to be changed, athenahealth may not take into consideration your posting changes. If you have posted or voided transactions, athenahealth will hold the claim and will not post until you restore the claim to its original state. athenahealth does not reconcile manual payment batches that you create.
Note: Manual payment batches that you create are not included in the minimum service commitment (MSC).

Tip: You can download and view a .pdf copy of the paper Explanation of Benefits (EOB) on the Edit Payment Batch page. If a payment batch has a paper EOB attached to it, View attached paper (pdf) appears in the Actions field.

Field Reference

Bank Account Information
Deposit Locations (these fields are administered via the Deposit Locations page)
Name	athenaOne automatically selects the bank account for this deposit batch based on the selected Deposit Location. Bank accounts are administered via the Bank Accounts page.
Account Type	The type of deposit batch that can be assigned to this deposit location. The type determines which deposit locations are available when you create or edit a deposit batch.
PO Box Number	The P.O. box number if this deposit location is a P.O. box. Blank if this is not a P.O. box. Note: All lockbox banks listed on the Bank Accounts page should have a P.O. box number entered in the corresponding deposit location.
Exclude from General Ledger?	Y indicates custom general ledger reports should exclude this deposit location.
Notes	Notes entered from the Deposit Locations page.
Bank Account (these fields are administered via the Bank Accounts page)
Name	The name of the bank account. This name should correspond to the monthly paper bank statements you receive at your practice.
Notes	Any notes about this bank account.
Medical Groups / Provider Groups
Medical Groups / Provider Groups	The medical group(s) that use this bank account. For athenaEnterprise clients, this field is called Provider Groups.
Enter Deposit Batch
Deposit Date	Enter or select the date of the bank deposit.
Post Date	If the Deposit Date is within an open month, athenaOne sets the deposit batch's Post Date to the deposit batch's Deposit Date. If the Deposit Date is within a closed month, athenaOne sets the deposit batch's Post Date to the current date. You cannot edit this field. The athenaOne default date ensures that reports run on deposits for a particular month always show the proper set of deposit batches and changes to deposit batches. See also: Post Date Reporting FAQ and Update System Closed-Through Dates.
Deposit Slip #	Enter the deposit slip number from the bank deposit slip.
Deposit Location	Select the deposit location for the new deposit batch. athenaOne automatically selects the bank account for this deposit batch based on the selected Deposit Location. Important: If you do not see an appropriate deposit location, or if you are unsure what the correct deposit location is, you should escalate the issue to your manager to resolve the question. It is very important to select the correct deposit location before you process a batch. If the deposit location for a remittance deposit is unknown, you can select the "UNKNOWN" deposit location.
Bank Account	athenaOne automatically selects the bank account for this deposit batch based on the selected Deposit Location.
Deposit Amt	Enter the total amount of the deposit. including non-athenaOne funds.
Out-Of-Balance	Displays the difference between the Deposit Amt and the sum of the payment batch amounts you will enter (see below).
Bank Deposit Type	Select the bank deposit type of the deposit batches you want. This field describes by what means the deposit was made at the bank, such as by Cash & Check, Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), MasterCard & Visa, etc.
Checks Deposited By Site?	Select Yes to indicate that the checks in the deposit batch were deposited by the practice. athenahealth recommends that you not change this selection if it has been set by athenahealth staff. The selection has no audit trail, so we cannot recover that information.

Enter Payment Batches
Seq #	System-assigned sequence number of the payment batch.
Target Amount	The target amount of the payment batch.
Route	Select the route for the payment batch. (Does not appear for athenaCollector (No Posting) clients.)
Check #	Enter the check number for the payment batch.
Notes	If your practice assigns batches to specific staff members, you should enter the name, initials, or username of the designated staffer in the Notes field.