Billing Options

In the Billing section you can set billing options, generate a billing list, and send or print statements as a batch.  This page describes how to select and enter billing options and defaults. To generate the billing list and send or print statements, see Billing List.

In the Manage module, click the Billing button.

Additional billing default options can be set in Manage Module Setup. 

If the Billing List opens instead of the Billing Options window, it indicates a list has already been created and there are unsent bills.  Before you can generate a new list, you must send the unsent bills or delete them.  To delete, click Close, then click Yes to the delete message.  You will receive a notification when the deletion is successful.  Click OK and the window will close.  Click Billing to start the process over again.

Filtering Options
The Filter area controls which patients will be included in the Billing List. To save your selections for the next time you run billing, click Save as Default.

• Include anyone not billed since:  The default date is one month prior.  Patients who have not been billed since that date will be included in the list.
• Include any accounts with insurance payments or procedures since last bill:  See Monthly vs Daily billing below.
• Age of Account:  Filter the list by account Aging.
• Exclude bad address:   Check this box to exclude all patients who have no zip code entered.
• Exclude inactive families: Check this box to exclude patients who have a status of inactive on the Patient Edit window.
• Exclude negative balances
• Exclude if insurance pending:  Check this box to exclude patients who have outstanding claims.
• Exclude if unsent procedures:  Check this box to exclude accounts when there are unsent procedures within the last 6 months.  This is important to prevent statements from being sent before claims are created, such as in larger organizations where billing is done in a separate department.
• Exclude if balance is less than:  Put at least $1 in this box. It's a waste of money to send a bill to someone who owes less than $1, and it can also catch rounding errors.
• Ignore Walkout - If the patient was given a walkout Statement, a log is entered in the Account module.  Check this box to ignore walkout statements and include these patients in the billing list.  Uncheck the box to exclude patients who received a walkout statement. 
• Billing Types:  Select the billing types to include in the billing list.  Press Ctrl while clicking to select multiple types. Billing types can be customized in Definitions, Billing Types.
• Clinic: Select the clinic. Only visible if Clinics is enabled in Show Features.

Monthly vs Daily billing:  Ther are other options than billing once a month, consider printing a few bills every day. It helps get the bills out in a timely manner and improve cash flow, and patients are still not  billed more than once a month.  Check the 'Include any accounts with insurance payments or procedures since last bill' box.  Anyone who has had an insurance payment come in or work performed, but did not yet get a new bill showing the change, will be included in the billing list.  If you don't want to use daily billing, then you can still just bill once a month on the first of the month. The automation works well for both methods. In Account Module Setup, set "Aging calculated monthly instead of daily" so that Aging will follow a monthly cycle instead of a daily cycle.

Dunning Messages
A dunning message is a message that shows on each statement based on the age of the account and some other factors. Only one dunning message will be used on any bill. The program will select the first match, starting from the bottom up (lower listed messages take precedence). The messages are sorted by criteria complexity: messages with more general criteria appear higher in the list, messages with stricter criteria appear lower.

Double click on an existing message or click Add Dunning Msg.

1. Select the criteria that will trigger this dunning message.
       - Billing Type
       - Age of Account 
       - Insurance Payment Pending: Select whether to include patients who have insurance payments pending (yes), exclude them (no), or if it doesn't matter.
2. In the Statment Notes, enter the message.  Text entered in the Bold Message area will appear bold.
3. If the statement is sent via e-mail, enter the e-mail subject and/or message body that will override the Billing Default e-mail message.  Variables can be used.  See Billing Defaults below. 
4. Click OK to save the message.

Dunning messages only show on batch statements sent or printed via the Billing List.  They do not show when you print a Statement or send an E-mail from the customer's account. If you want to print and e-mail the same statement, we recommend you e-mail from the Billing List so you can use the Email Override variables available in the Dunning Message.  These are not available in regular e-mail templates. Then print the Statement individually from the Account module.

Billing Defaults
Click Defaults to select default billing options and enter default messages for statements and e-mail.

The options entered here are the default values for the billing list and statements. 

Start Date Last _ Days:  The number of days that will be used to set the default billing start date.

Intermingle family members:  Check the box to mix family members together on the statement. Uncheck the box to group each individual separately.  The default selected here will determine the default setting for the Intermingle box on the main Billing window.  This checkbox is ignored when sending E-Bills; E-Bills are always intermingled.

General Message:  The default message that will appear at the bottom of statements in addition to dunning and appointment messages.  You may use the variable [installplan].

Electronic Billing: If you select an option other than No electronic billing, the delivery mode for statements will be "electronic" instead of mail or e-mail.
- No electronic billing: Select this option if you are not using electronic billing.
- Dental Exchange: Select this option if using DentalXChange for electronic billing.  See DentalXChange E-Bills for additional setup instructions.
- Output to file:  When you click Send on the Billing List, statements will be saved as a .xml file.
- ClaimX/ExtraDent: When you click Send on the Billing List, statements will be saved in the ClaimX/ExtraDent file format in the directory C:\StatementX\.

Email-Statements:  The default subject and message for statements that are e-mailed.  You may use the the following variables in either area.
- [monthlyCardsOnFile] - the customers credit cards on file.  The first 12 digits will be masked, and the last four digits will show, followed by expiration date.  Multiple cards will be separated by commas.  E.g. XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-1234_exp:01/01 
- [nameF] - guarantor's first name and preferred name
- [nameFL] - guarantor's first, preferred and last name
- [namePref] - guarantor's preferred name
- [PatNum] - patient number
- [currentMonth] - the current month
- [nameFLnoPref]] - guarantor's first and last name only (no preferred name).

Invoice Note:  The default note that will appear on Invoices sent in the Account module.

General Message
The General Message on the main Billing Options window will appear at the bottom of the statement in addition to dunning messages and appointments.  Set the default general message in Billing Defaults.