How to Transfer a Patient's Credit Balance

Sensei Cloud gives you the ability to transfer an existing credit balance from a patient's account to a connected patient that has a positive (debit) balance for one or more locations.

For example, if a patient has overpaid and has a credit balance of $100.00, they can redirect these funds to the balance of a connected patient, such as their spouse or child.

The Transfer Patient Credit option is available from the Patient Ledger. The following criteria must be met for this option to be available:

• The patient must have a credit balance
• The patient must have connected patients (defined in the Patient Record)
• One or more of the connected patients must have a positive (debit) balance 

Note: Prior to initiating a balance transfer, we recommend that you make sure that there are enough unapplied funds from the associated location's credits (i.e., payments, discounts, write-offs) to cover the amount of the balance transfer. Distributions from existing credits with available funds are automatically created to cover the new (balance transfer) debit.

To transfer a patient's credit balance to a connected patient:

1. From the Patient tab of the patient that has a credit balance, select Financials > Ledger.
2. Under Actions, click Transfer Patient Credit. The Transfer Patient Credit window is displayed.
   
3. From the From Location drop-down list, select a location to transfer the credit from. The Current Balance updates accordingly based on the selected location.
   Note: The available Practice Locations from this drop-down list include only the locations for which the sending patient has a credit balance.
4. Enter the amount of the credit that you want to transfer.
   Note: You can enter any amount up to the full amount of the credit.
5. From the To Patient drop-down list, select a connected patient to transfer the credit to (if the patient has more than one connected patients that have debit balances).
   Note: The only patients that are available for selection are patients that are defined as connected patients in the Patient Record, and they must also have a debit balance (in at least one Practice Location).
6. From the To Location drop-down list, select the location the credit balance is being transferred to. 
   Note: Only Practice Locations for which the (receiving) patient has a debit balance are available for selection. If there is only one location with a debit balance, this location is selected by default.
7. If needed, edit the information included in the Comments field. A default message is entered, but you can change it or add additional information.
8. Click Post Transfer. 
   A Patient Balance Transfer line item is added to the ledger for both patients. The description is recorded as Patient Transfer (Debit) to [Patient Name] for the patient who is transferring the credit, and Patient Transfer (Credit) from [Patient Name] for the patient receiving the credit. 
   Note: 
   -- In cases where there are distribution issues, you are unable to post the transfer, and a message is displayed.
   -- If there are not enough unapplied funds (from the patient's credits), the preceding message is displayed and the user has to review the existing distributions, which subsequently need to be reduced or removed in order to free up funds to cover the amount of the balance transfer (and the distributions that cover this debit).
   --  Existing distributions to refunds or directly to providers can be redistributed, but adjustments to existing distributions, which have been associated with services (i.e., procedure-based charges), are not currently supported as part of the balance transfer workflow.
   --  In order to distribute the new (balance transfer) credit on the recipient side, you can use the normal Applied Payments workflow from the Patient Ledger line item for the transfer. See How to Configure and Use Applied Payments for more information. 

Note: Payment transactions are shown and calculated in the Accounting Location’s Financial Daysheet
Payments section as well as the All Locations Financial Daysheet Payments section where you can toggle to view the Acceptance or Accounting locations. Patient balance transfer transactions are also accounted for in any other financial reporting.