Contract Proposals (Legacy Proposal System)

Create contract proposals to set up patient contracts without activating them. You can review proposed contracts, negotiate terms with the parties involved, and update the proposals as needed. When all parties are satisfied with the proposal, you apply the selected contract to the patient account, which adds the contract fee to your production and initiates the contract timeline.

Contracts vs Proposals - New contracts are activated and added to your total production immediately after saving, while proposals provide a way for the responsible party to review one or more payment schedules before treatment begins. Once they commit, you simply apply the proposal to turn it into an active contract. This topic describes creating and working with proposals: See "New Contract Editor" for details about creating active contracts.

Legacy Proposal TopicClosed - This topic references the legacy Edge Cloud proposal system. See "Edge Proposal" for details for information about using the Edge Proposal system instead.

Click to OpenCreate Contract Templates

(Optional.)  Use the Contract Templates editor to create financial templates that you can use to quickly apply your standard treatment rates and payment plans to your contract proposals. When you apply a contract template to a proposal, the proposal will include the template's late fee policy, contract class, and an optional note to the financially responsible party. Although you cannot alter the late fee policy or contract class of a proposal, you can edit the proposal notes. In addition, as you apply a proposal, you will be able to modify the late fee policy, contract class, and treatment dates. (The proposal notes are eliminated at the point the proposal becomes an active contract.) See "Contract Templates Editor" for details.

Click to OpenCreate a Contract Proposal

  1. Open the New Proposal Editor - Open the patient's Finance page. Then select New Proposal from the Contract section of the Patent ribbon bar.

    Proposal Mode Selection - Your system may be set up to prompt you for which proposal mode to use, Edge Proposal or the Legacy Proposal mode. If you do not have this choice, and your system defaults to the proposal mode you do not want to use, you can change the selection in your System Financial Settings editor.

  2. Select Treatment and Amount - Use this window to choose the phase of treatment to associate with the contract and enter a description. Enter the total contract fee for all billing parties and insurance companies that will be paying you. When finished, click Next at the bottom of the window to continue.

    Proposed Treatment Phases - You can create contract proposals for any treatment phase, in anticipation of a patient's future treatment needs. However, be sure the patient is set to the appropriate phase before applying the proposal.

  3. Contract Members - All responsible parties and insurance details associated with the patient are listed (unless a responsible party is flagged with Exclude from Financials on the Family panel of the patient Home page). Enable each party that is financially responsible for this contract, and will be paying you. When finished, click Next at the bottom of the window to continue. Or, click Finish to save the proposal and return to the patient's Finance page.

    Insurance Benefits - When the patient receives insurance benefit money directly, the patient is responsible for paying you all financial obligations, and you do not include the insurance company as a member of the financial contract. You do, however, assign the insurance plan to the responsible party, and create an Insurance Detail record for that plan so that you can submit insurance forms on behalf of the patient.

  4. Contract Allocation and Templates - (Optional.) You can use the Contract Template Selection window to optionally allocate the contract fee among the contract members, and / or apply contract templates.

    Use the Allocated Amount fields to distribute the contract fee among contract members. The allocations do not have to match the total contract fee to finish the proposal. However, the total fee must be allocated before you can activate the contract.

    The template(s) you selected are listed underneath the contract member's name. When you finish the proposal, Edge Cloud will calculate the proposed payment schedule for each template separately. This provides you with a way to present contract members with multiple payment options.

    When you apply a contract template to a proposal, the proposal will include the template's late fee policy, contract class, and an optional note to the financially responsible party. Although you cannot alter the late fee policy or contract class of a proposal, you can edit the proposal notes. In addition, as you apply a proposal, you will be able to modify the late fee policy, contract class, and treatment dates. (The proposal notes are eliminated at the point the proposal becomes an active contract.)

    If you do not allocate the fee or apply contract templates now, you can do so later by editing the proposal.

    When finished, click Back at the bottom of the window to review the proposal settings, or click Finish to save the proposal and return to the patient's Finance page.

  5. Finish - Once you have entered the treatment phase, contract amount, and selected at least one contract member, you can click Finish at the bottom of the window to save your proposal and return to the Finance page of the patient folder.

Click to OpenEdit Proposals

Click to OpenOpen a Proposal - Open the patient's Finance page. Select the Proposals option at the top of the window. The button shows the number of proposals currently created for the patient. Select the proposal to work with at the left of the screen.

Proposed Treatment Phases - You can create contract proposals for any treatment phase, in anticipation of a patient's future treatment needs. However, be sure the patient is set to the appropriate phase before applying the proposal.

Click to OpenProposal Details - Use the top section of the proposal window to edit the contract description, treatment fee amount, and start date. These fields apply to all contract members.

Contract Name (Description) - The contract name, or description, identifies this contract, and defaults to the name of the treatment phase. The name displays on both the Financial and Insurance pages of the patient folder. This field is the same for all contract members.

Total Contract Amount - Enter the total contract fee for all billing parties and insurance companies that will be paying you.

Start Date - If you select the start date of "today", the date you apply the proposal becomes the contract start date. Or, you can enter a specific date to use as this contract's start date.  Regardless of the start date you choose, the entire contract fee is added to your production immediately after you activate the contract.

When you apply a contract template to a proposal, the proposal will include the template's late fee policy, contract class, and an optional note to the financially responsible party. Although you cannot alter the late fee policy or contract class of a proposal, you can edit the proposal notes. In addition, as you apply a proposal, you will be able to modify the late fee policy, contract class, and treatment dates. (The proposal notes are eliminated at the point the proposal becomes an active contract.)

Click to OpenProposal Members - Each proposal member is shown at the bottom of the screen. You can use the icons beside each member's detail box to adjust the fee allocation, and create and edit payment structures. You can also add and remove members from the proposal. The entire contract fee must be allocated, and each member must have a payment structure before you will be able to apply the proposal and activate the contract.

Add a Proposal Member - Click Add beside the Proposal Members field to include another responsible party or insurance in the proposal.Then use that member's details box to allocate a portion of the fee and create a payment structure for them.

Patient - Associated Parties Only - You can only select responsible parties that and insurance plans that are assigned to the patient folder. If needed, you can add responsible parties from the Family panel of the patient's Home page, or add insurance to the respective responsible party page.

Insurance Benefits - When the patient receives insurance benefit money directly, the patient is responsible for paying you all financial obligations, and you do not include the insurance company as a member of the financial contract. You do, however, assign the insurance plan to the responsible party, and create an Insurance Detail record for that plan so that you can submit insurance forms on behalf of the patient.

Proposal Member Details - Use the member details boxes to allocate the contract fee and create payment structures. You can create as many payment structures as you wish to provide multiple payment plan options for each billing party. When it is time to apply the proposal, you will simply select the payment structure each member has chosen.

 

Add a Proposal (Payment Schedule) - Click Add beside the member's name, and select a contract template to apply, or choose Custom to enter your own payment schedule. You can prepare multiple payment schedules for each member, then let them review and choose the plan that works best for them.

Adjust Contract Fee Allocation - Click Update beside the member's name, then enter their portion of the contract fee. Remember that the entire contract fee must be allocated before you can apply the proposal and activate the contract.

Remove a Proposal Member - Click Remove beside the member's name, you wan to remove, then confirm your action. If you remove a member that had been allocated part of the contract fee, you will need to adjust allocations for other members so the entire fee is accounted for.

Choose Different Template - Click  Choose New Template beside a current proposal, and select a contract template to apply, or choose Custom to enter your own payment schedule. Then, confirm that you want to replace the currently selected plan.

Edit a Proposal (Payment Schedule) - Click Edit beside a proposal to edit the payment structure. (See "Contract Fees and Non-Production Adjustments" for details about each type of installment.) Edge Cloud recalculates the payments, and notifies you if your schedule does not account for the exact contract amount allocated to this member.

Delete a Proposal (Payment Schedule - Click Remove beside a proposal to remove it, then confirm your action. If you remove a member that had been allocated part of the contract fee, you will need to add that amount to other members.

Automatic Member Removal - If a member has only one proposal, and you remove that proposal, the member is removed also.

Proposal Notes - Click Notes beside a proposal name to read and edit the notes for that payment structure. Your contract templates can include a note to appear with proposed contracts that you create with that template. This note, which prints on the Proposal Schedule form, is intended to be seen by the financially responsible party. Each proposed payment schedule can have its own responsible party note, as well as an additional "internal use only" note.

Click to OpenSave Changes

Click Save in your Quick Access toolbar or File ribbon bar (or press Ctrl+S on your keyboard) to save any changes you have made.

Click to OpenApply a Proposal

When you have agreed upon the contract fee amount and payment schedules for all members, you are ready to apply the proposal to the patient account and activate the contract.

Regardless of the start date you choose, the entire contract fee is added to your production immediately after you activate the contract.

  1. Open the Proposal - Open the patient's Finance page. Select the Proposals option at the top of the window. The button shows the number of proposals currently created for the patient. Select the proposal to work with at the left of the screen.

  2. Apply the Proposal - When you have selected a payment structure for each contract member, click Apply Proposal at the bottom of the window. When prompted, respond "Yes" to continue activating the contract, or "No" to cancel and return to the proposal screen.

  3. Select Contract Details - Select the late fee policy and contract class(es) for each contract member, as well as the contrct dates and start origin. The dates, start origin, and treatment coordinator you supply here will auto-fill into the corresponding fields for this treatment phase on the Findings page and Treatment Hub pages of the patient folder. Once the contract is created, these fields can only be edited from the Findings page.

    Late Fee Policies - The late fee applied to miscellaneous charges (i.e. diagnostic records charges and panorex charges) can be different from the late fee applied to contract charges (i.e. initial fees and period fees).See "Responsible Party Records" for details about changing the miscellaneous charge late fee policy.

  4. Finish - When you click Close, the contract is added to the patient account, and the timeline begins, according to the payment schedules you selected for each member. Regardless of the start date you choose, the entire contract fee is added to your production immediately after you activate the contract.

Click to OpenProposal Reporting

Proposal Schedule - Run a Proposal Schedule form to generate the list of scheduled transactions for a proposed orthodontic contract created with the Edge Cloud legacy proposal system. The form lists the scheduled transaction amounts and dates for each responsible party involved, as well as the description entered in the proposal details. If the responsible party has insurance coverage, the total expected insurance amount is included on the form. No miscellaneous charges are included on the form. Proposal Schedules can be printed, or exported in a variety of formats. See "Proposal Schedule Form" for details.

Proposed Contracts Report - Run a Proposed Contracts report to obtain a list of proposed contract amounts and start dates. The report includes the patient and responsible party names, treatment phase, estimated start date (if any), and contract amount. See "Proposed Contracts Report" for details.