Financial Controls Center
athenaOne for Hospitals & Health Systems
This page provides a guided workflow that walks you through all the activities you should perform each month as part of your athenaOne close. The Financial Controls Center (FCC) also alerts you about any issues that might create problems during your monthly close. You can review this page daily or weekly throughout the month to make sure that you're on track.
Note: We improved the reliability of the month-end close process to make it better align with your practice's specific month-end close settings.
All parts of the month-end close process are individual and unlinked from the others.
This improvement helps athenaOne:
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Monitor each part more closely
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Reduce the likelihood of failure
The month-end close process helps your reporting for historical periods remain static.
There are no settings to enable. This feature makes athenaOne better adhere to your practice's existing month-end close settings. These settings were configured during your practice's go-live with athenaOne.
On the Main Menu, click Financials. Under MONEY MANAGEMENT, click Financial Controls Center
To access the Financial Controls Center page, you must have one of these user roles:
- *Billing Admin
- *Practice Superuser
- *Report Reader
- Billing Admin: Financial Controls Center
- Billing Staff
- Management - Collector
- Management - Communicator
- Report: Financial Controls Center
- Display the Financial Controls Center page: On the Main Menu, click Financials. Under MONEY MANAGEMENT, click Financial Controls Center.
- Provider Group — If your practice has multiple provider groups, select the provider group to work on.
- Step 1: Prepare Deposit Batches — This step has three parts:
- Account for Time of Service (TOS) Money by making sure that all payment batches are in deposit batches.
- Click Manage Cash & Check TOS Money to place cash and check TOS money into a deposit batch.
(Please refer to Manage Time-of-Service Money — Create Deposits - Cash & Checks for step-by-step instructions.) - Click Manage Electronic TOS Money to assign electronic TOS money to a deposit batch.
Note: If you are using Credit Card Plus, this process happens automatically.
(Please refer to Manage Time-of-Service Money — Create Deposits - Credit Cards for step-by-step instructions.)
- Click Manage Cash & Check TOS Money to place cash and check TOS money into a deposit batch.
- Associate "Unknown" Deposit Batches with the proper bank account.
- Associate all deposit batches with a bank account.
- Click Reconcile Deposits to Bank Activity to display the Associate Deposit Batches tab of the Reconcile athenaOne Deposits to Bank Activity page.
- Update the Deposit Location and Bank Account information.
- Enter Refund Check Numbers for all checks issued in the month.
- Make sure that all the check numbers of refund checks have been entered in athenaOne.
- Click Refund Checks in Process to display the Refund Checks In Process page.
(Please refer to Refund Checks In Process for step-by-step instructions.)
- Account for Time of Service (TOS) Money by making sure that all payment batches are in deposit batches.
- Step 2: Reconcile Deposit Batches — This step has two parts:
- Reconcile Current Period Deposits by matching athenaOne deposit batches to this month's bank deposits on your bank statement or online record of bank transactions.
(Please refer to Reconcile athenaOne Deposits to Bank Activity for step-by-step instructions.) - Reconcile Deposits Outside the Current Period by matching athenaOne deposit batches to prior or future months' bank statements. This step refers to deposits posted in athenaOne this month but deposited in a bank in a month outside the current deposit batch post activity period.
(Please refer to Reconcile athenaOne Deposits to Bank Activity for step-by-step instructions.)
- Reconcile Current Period Deposits by matching athenaOne deposit batches to this month's bank deposits on your bank statement or online record of bank transactions.
- Step 3: Financial Summary Review — Review the summary financial data for your practice. You can use this data to book journal entries for Cash, A/R, Other Revenue, and Clearing Activities.
Note: Click Learn more to display descriptions and definitions of the metrics shown.- Bank Account — If your practice has multiple bank accounts, select the bank account to view. You can view only the bank accounts to which you have access.
- Deposit Batch Activity — Review all deposits posted in the current month. This section contains the cumulative amount of deposit batches posted in athenaOne from time zero to the end of the prior period plus the deposit batches posted in athenaOne during the current period.
- Revenue — Review whether deposits became payments, unpostables, etc.
This section shows where revenue transactions were recorded during the current period. - Change in Clearing Activity — This section contains the starting balance for items in suspense as of the beginning of the current period (cumulative amount in unapplieds/unpostables; excludes closed legacy/foreign system accounts receivable and other revenue), and the net amount of unapplieds/unpostables booked during the current period. The ending balance is the cumulative clearing account balance as of the end of the current period.
- Change in Undeposited Transactions — Undeposited Transactions are items posted in athenaOne during a given period that were not in a deposit batch, such as TOS payments that were posted in athenaOne but were never associated with a deposit batch. You should review the amounts in your undeposited account on a regular basis.
- athenahealth Reconciliation — Review how deposits for the month appear in athenaOne. This section illustrates the connection between Deposit Activity and Revenue/Clearing Account Activity.
- Display the Financial Controls Center page: On the Main Menu, click Financials. Under MONEY MANAGEMENT, click Financial Controls Center.
- Click the Financial Summary Review tab.
- Click an Undeposited Transactions link.
The Report Builder page displays the FCC Activity Report in a new window, with the following columns preselected:
- Payment Batch ID
- Payment Batch Post Date
- Payment Batch Close Date
- Unapplied ID
- Unpostable ID
- Undeposited Amount
The report also has the following filters preselected:
- Activity Type: Undeposited
- Deposit Batch Activity Date Range: Current MTD
- Click Run Report.
The Report Options window appears. - Select a report format.
- Click OK.
This report shows all the batches that make up your undeposited account amount for a given period of time. If any of the items require further investigation, use the Payment Batch ID to research them.
- Display the Financial Controls Center page: On the Main Menu, click Financials. Under MONEY MANAGEMENT, click Financial Controls Center.
- Click the Financial Summary Review tab.
- Scroll down to the Change in Clearing Account Activity section or the athenahealth Reconciliation section.
- Click the Unapplied Credit Balances link.
The Billing Worklists page appears in a new window. - Show all accounts with credits of type — Select Unapplied from the menu.
- Show only amounts older than menu — Enter or select a date.
- Click Show Credit Balance List.
The list appears in the Worklist on the left. - Click a linked patient name and ID.
The patient's Quickview page appears. - Display the Issue Patient Refund page: On the Patient Actions Bar, click Billing, and then click Issue Patient Refund.
- Follow the Issue Patient Refund workflow as you normally would.
Resolution paths for an unapplied payment
- If the patient was not required to pay or made an overpayment, you should issue a refund to the patient.
Note: Issuing a patient refund is the primary concern; the other two scenarios will resolve themselves. - If you have not yet entered charges, the payment should remain in unapplied until you enter charges.
- If there is an outstanding patient charge on the account, athenaOne automatically posts the unapplied to that charge, although you can post this amount manually in certain cases.
- Display the Financial Controls Center page: On the Main Menu, click Financials. Under MONEY MANAGEMENT, click Financial Controls Center.
- Scroll down to the Financial Summary Review section.
- Scroll down to the Unpostables subsection.
- Click any of these links:
- Closed Legacy/Foreign System A/R
- Open Other Revenue
- Closed Other Revenue
- Open Unmatched Remits
- Closed Unmatched Remits
- Open Legacy/Foreign System A/R
- Research any items that require further investigation and resolve the unpostables, as you normally would.
An unpostables worklist appears, containing all of the unpostable items that make up the amount for a particular unpostable account.
To use the Financial Controls Center page successfully, complete all work before the athenaOne system close date. The system close date appears at the top of the Financial Controls Center page with a message similar to this: "Your financial month closes on October 07. This gives you 7 days to complete month-end close activities."
We do not recommend changing the Deposit Close Date or the Transaction Close Date during the first 7 days of the month. Also, changing the value of the Deposit Close Date and the Transaction Close Date to the current date will not cause the month to close immediately; instead, the month will close the following day after the daily script runs.
In the first two sections — Prepare Deposit Batches and Reconcile Deposit Batches —your goal is to have each step display a green check, which indicates that all associated activities are complete.
The third section — Financial Summary Review — is a summary section that relies on work done in the first two sections. There are no tasks to complete in the third section. The information in this section is updated automatically as deposit batches are created and updated.
Note: Click Learn more to display descriptions and definitions of the metrics shown.
You can click most of the data elements to "drill down" for more detailed information. When you hover your cursor over a particular item (for example, Payments for month X), the number is highlighted in yellow, and the cursor icon becomes a hand. Clicking the highlighted number displays the appropriate report.
Click Deposit Batch Activity counts and amounts to display the Financial Controls Center Deposits Detail page. This page has preselected filters, and the report runs automatically.
Note: There is no drill-down for Intransit Deposits Not Posted.
Click items in the Revenue section to display the Report Builder with relevant columns and filters preselected. You can change the columns and filters, or run the report as is.
Click the Change in Clearing Account Activity drill-downs to display the Report Builder with relevant columns and filters preselected. You can change the columns and filters, or run the report as is.
Provider Group |
If your practice has multiple provider groups, select the provider group to work on. |
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Bank Account |
If your practice has multiple bank accounts, select the bank account to view. You can only view bank accounts to which you have access. |
Revenue Rows | |
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athenaOne Receivables |
This subsection contains entries related to accounts receivable amounts in athenaOne. |
Start Balance |
The cumulative open accounts receivable balance in athenaOne from time zero to the end of the prior period. |
Charges |
Sum of all charge amounts posted during the period. |
Payments |
Sum of payment amounts (remittances and TOS payments) posted during the period. |
Adjustments |
Sum of adjustment amounts posted during the period. |
Transfers | Sum of transfer amounts posted during the period. |
Net Change |
Charges minus payments, adjustments, and transfers. |
End Balance |
Beginning balance plus charges minus payments, adjustments, and transfers. The net open receivables balance, as of the end of the current period. |
Change in Other Receivables |
This subsection contains the net amount of closed legacy/foreign system account receivables posted during the current period. These items are not related to trade receivable entries in athenaOne. Payments are related to legacy/foreign system receivables. |
Change in Other Revenue/Expense |
This subsection contains the net amount of other revenue posted during the current period. These items are unpostables that are typically payments you receive that aren't related to billed services. |
Change in Clearing Account Activity Rows | |
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Unapplieds |
Unapplieds are money your practice collects for a specific patient that is not applied to a specific charge at the time of collection. These amounts reflect a net balance in the patient's account. You should review your unapplied account on a regular basis. |
Unpostables |
Unpostables are money your practice receives, which are not specific to a charge, or do not have enough information to post against a charge, claim, or patient account. Unpostables also include missing remittance documents, non-athenahealth records, other revenue, and deposit discrepancies (for example, check amounts that don't agree, incorrect pay-to addresses). These amounts reflect a net balance. |
Inprocess Deposit Imbalances |
In process deposit imbalances are the residual amounts from deposit batch posting errors, partially posted deposit batches as of the end of the period, and other unprocessed deposit batches. |
Subtotal |
The sum of unapplieds, unpostables, and in-process deposit imbalances. |
End Balance |
The ending balance of your clearing account. Unapplied Credit Balances – Click this link to display the Billing Worklists page in a new window. |