Post Payments

Set Up Payment Accounts - Use the Payment Accounts editor to define the types of payments you accept from responsible parties, such as checks, credit and debit cards, and electronic (ACH) payments. If you integrate Edge Cloud with an electronic payment processing system, such as Global Payments Integrated, Vanco, or Worldpay, you must create at least one payment account to use with that integration. See "Payment Accounts Editor" for details.

Post Transaction Security - Your Edge Cloud security settings can allow or prevent operators from posting transactions. To set up this security access, open the Security editor and choose the security model to work with. Then click the Patient Financial security group, and set the Post Insurance Receipts and Charges and Post Insurance Receipts and Charges options to the appropriate access settings. (See "Security Editor" for details about using the editor.)

1. Open the Post Transaction Window - Select Post Transaction from the Home or Patient ribbon bar, or select Post Payment from the patient section of the Scheduler ribbon bar. If a patient record is already active, that patient's information will be loaded automatically. Otherwise, you use Fast Find (either typing information or swiping a registered reward card) to search for the patient to work with. (You can also post transactions from the Quick Access toolbar at the top of your Edge Cloud screen, and by right-clicking a patient's appointment in your Scheduler.)

   

   Unfinalized Transaction Warning - You can set up Edge Cloud so that when you attempt to post a transaction before you finalize the Transaction Report for the previous day, you see a warning message before the Post Transaction window will open. You must then confirm your action before continuing. This feature helps you maintain the integrity of daily transaction postings. After you have seen the message once, you can select not to see it again that day, if you choose. (See "Financial User Options" for details.)

   

   Alert Stop - If the patient has an alert trigger enabled for this feature, the Alert Stop pop-up window will appear when you initiate this feature for the patient. Review the alert information, then either press Enter on your keyboard, or click the box to continue. You can also click the Edit link to open the Alert editor for that patient. (If you have a patient folder page in a floating window, under certain circumstances the Enter key will not dismiss the alert popup window. In that case, you must click the popup window to dismiss it.)

   

2. Select Patient and Contract - The selected patient's name, id number, office, doctor and patient tag (if any) appear in the header of the Post Transactions window. Choose the billing party or insurance company from the list that appears below the header.

   If this person's record has a visual tag applied, the appropriate color/shape appears beside the name. If the correct patient name is not shown in the header, click the Change Patient button at the bottom of the window to choose a different patient to work with.

   The accounts list includes the billing party name, any associated visual tags, the insurance company name, if appropriate, the treatment phase, and a summary of the financial obligation, including the next scheduled payment and amount. The AR column at the right of the post transactions window indicates whether the contract is set up with an Auto Receipts agreement.

   Exclude Responsible Party from Financials - When you add a responsible party to the Family panel of a patient folder, you can enable the Exclude from Financials option for Responsible Parties that have no financial obligation for this patient. You will not be able to post miscellaneous charges or receipts to this party, or add this party to the patient's financial contracts. If a charge or contract has already been posted to this party for this patient, you will not be able to enable this option.

   Display Completed Contracts Option - By default, only currently active contracts appear in the list. If the contract you want does not appear, enable the Display Completed Contracts option to be sure you are viewing all accounts associated with this patient.

   Display Last Posted Transaction - The last transaction you posted can appear at the right of the post transactions window for your reference. This helps prevent duplicate posting errors. In addition, when posting a charge, receipt, or refund, you can click Audit to review the posting details of that transaction. (You can use your Financial User Options to choose whether or not to display this information.

   Open Ledger - You can click a billing name in the Contracts section of the Post Transactions window to open the patient's Finance page to that contract or billing line ledger.

   Click to select billing party to post to. If you are posting an insurance payment, be sure to select the account that includes the insurance company name in the Insurance column of the list.

   

3. Payment Details - Select Post Payment at the left of the window. Then enter the payment method and receipt details.

   Payment Method - The Payment Method section of the window lists the payments on file you have created for the billing party, often a credit card or debit card. Click to select one of these options, or select "Other" and choose the type of payment to post (i.e. cash, check, or credit card).

   Receipt Details - In the Receipt Details section, enter the payment date, amount, and description of the payment. You can set up default payment descriptions in your Payment Accounts editor. In addition, typing the letters "ck" followed by a space will insert the description "Check No." automatically. You can then simply enter the appropriate check number to complete the description. Finally, choose whether to generate a receipt immediately after posting. (A receipt will be displayed for all credit card payments whether or not this option is enabled.)

   

   Date Restrictions - Your financial security settings may limit or restrict you from changing the transaction posting date. See "System Financial Settings Editor" for details.

4. Post the Transaction - After reviewing the transaction details for accuracy, click Post. Edge Cloud calculates the new account balance and amount due, and asks you to confirm the transaction. Click Yes to complete the process, or click No to exit without posting the transaction.

   

   Credit / Debit Card Details - If you are posting a credit card or debit card payment that is not saved as a Payment on File in the responsible party folder, you will see a credit card details window as you post the payment. Swipe the card (or type the information), and choose to complete the process. The appearance of the credit card details window depends upon the type of payment processing integration you are using. (When you use a Payment on File, the processing happens automatically and you do not see the credit card details window.)

5. Sign and Print Receipt - If you enabled the Display receipt after posting option, or if you posted a credit card payment, a receipt form appears on your screen, waiting for a signature.

   You can enable the Show Account Balance & Amt Due option at the bottom of the window to expand the signature form and display the contract's account balance and amount due. Disable the option to remove these amounts from the form. This is the form that will be saved in the patient's Correspondence History: The form you print or email may look different.

   Use your pointing device (i.e. your mouse) to sign the receipt. If needed, click the beside the signature field to clear the signature and start over. If you do not display and sign a receipt form as you post a transaction, you will not be able to obtain a signature for the payment. After signing, choose to Print or Email the receipt. Printed forms will use your Quick Report settings; emailed forms will use your Form Email Setup settings. When you select the email option, you can then choose to send the message to any email address associated with the responsible party that made the payment.

   

   Print Prior Receipt - If you do not generate a receipt of payment as you post the transaction, you can generate one later. You will not, however, be able to sign the receipt at that time. See "Receipt of Payment Forms" for details.

   Correspondence History - When you print a receipt at the time a payment is posted, the event is recorded in both the patient and responsible party Correspondence History. This receipt is a copy of the form that appeared on your screen as you posted the transaction, including any signature. If you print a receipt later, the event is not recorded in the Correspondence History.

Bulk Payments - Use the Bulk Payment tool to post one payment to multiple contracts. For example, you would use the bulk payment tool when you receive an insurance check for several clients, or a parent's check covering multiple siblings. See "Post Bulk Payments" for details.

Office / Doctor Payment Designation - All payments you post in Edge Cloud (or, if you have Edge Specialist, your payments for your orthodontics specialty charges, are applied to the office and doctor listed on the Patient Information Panel of the patient folder, regardless of what payment account is used. So, if an office sets up a payment account called Credit Card – Main Office, and uses that account to post a payment for a patient assigned to their Satellite Office, the payment will be applied to the Satellite Office on the deposit slip and Transaction report. If you have Edge Specialist, when you post a payment for a pediatric dentistry insurance claim, you choose which office, doctor, and specialty to post to.

Open Ledger From Post Transaction Window - Click a responsible party name in the Account Holder column of the contract list that's displayed at the top of the Post Transaction window to open the patient's Finance page to the ledger details. You may need to drag the Post Transaction window to another location on your screen, or minimize it to your task bar in order to view the transactions.

Exclude From Deposit Slip - (Uncommon.) You can right-click a receipt in the patient's transaction ledger, and select Exclude From Deposit Slip. The receipt will still be applied to the patient account, but it will not be counted as part of your deposits for the day. You might use this feature, for example, if you are re-entering a payment after making a correction, and the payment amount had already appeared on a deposit slip. In addition, your Transaction Report will show an astrisk ( * ) along with the description in the Receipts section of the report. (Use the Transaction Excluded from Deposit Slip workflow trigger to activate a workflow whenever you flag a ledger receipt with Exclude From Deposit Slip. (Note that receipt adjustments and refunds are always excluded from the deposit slip, and do not trigger this workflow.)

Audit Transactions Processed by your Payment Accounts - Run the Processed Transactions report to obtain the details of each electronic and credit card transaction run through the selected payment processor for any range of dates or Transaction reports. The report includes the responsible party and patient identifiers, receipt description, date, and amount, and the Transaction number on which the receipt appears, as well as the payment processor details. See "Processed Transactions" for details.

OOPS! I Made a Mistake - Use the Adjust Receipt wizard to transfer a posted payment to another account, fix an incorrect receipt amount, remove a payment that was returned for insufficient funds or reverse an unintentionally posted receipt.- See "Adjust Receipts" for details.

I Need to Issue a Refund - Use the Issue Refund feature to easily and effectively return money to a responsible party, or transfer overpaid funds to another patient contract. See "Issue Refunds" for details.