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Financial Terms Overview

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RelatedTraining_Icon.png Related Training
Posting Charges, Payments, and Adjustments Recorded Class
Posting Ortho Payments and Pre-Payments Recorded Class
Applied Payments Recorded Class
Accessing the Financial Daysheet and Closing the Day Recorded Class
Generating Statements Recorded Class

Below is a quick reference guide to financial terms used throughout the Sensei Cloud software. 

Tip: For information on the various financial reports, see the recorded classes under Related Training.

Financial Roles

  • Guarantor: Individual who is financially responsible for their own balance, the balance of other individuals (i.e., guarantees), or both. If they are responsible for only their own balance; they are labeled as self-responsible in the patient record. The guarantor does not have to be a patient.
  • Guarantee: Someone who is not self-responsible and is instead guaranteed by another individual (i.e., the guarantor). For example, this could be the child of another patient. The guarantee balance can be viewed in the individual patient ledger or from the guarantor's ledger. 
  • Responsible Party: Individual who is responsible for paying for a patient's account balance. A patient can be self-responsible or can be assigned a responsible party. To also mark the responsible party as the guarantor, select the star next to their name within the Responsible Parties section in the patient record.

See the following topics for more information:

Charges

  • Charges: Charges for procedures completed or to be completed are posted to the patient ledger and contribute to the total balance 
  • Orthodontic Contract Charge: A charge that is automatically posted to the patient's ledger periodically for a predetermined amount of time based on the contract’s schedule and updates to the patient’s current balance. For more information, see How to Create an Ortho Contract.

Payments

  • Patient Payment: Payment that is made by a patient (or made by their guarantor on their behalf)
  • Insurance Payment: Payment from an insurance company on behalf of a patient
  • Split Payment: Payment that is made to more than one connected patient balance
  • Bulk Insurance Payment: A bulk payment to an insurance provider. You can apply these payments to specific patient claims.
  • Applied Payment: Payment that is distributed against completed procedures
  • Unapplied Payment: Funds that are available to be distributed against completed procedures
  • Pre-Payment: Payments made directly to providers (before distributing to the actual work [procedures] performed)
  • Ortho Payment: Payment made for an orthodontic contract charge

Payment Types

  • Cash 
  • Check:
    --Received: At Counter or By Mail
  • Credit Card:
    --Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, Discover, or Other
  • Debit Card
  • Insurance Check
  • Insurance - Credit Card
  • Insurance - EFT
    Note: For all of the above Insurance payment types, an insurance claim must be selected.
  • Bank Transfer
  • Care Credit
  • Money Order
  • Mobile or Online:
    --PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, CashApp, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Other
  • Miscellaneous Patient Payment
    --This payment type can be used to cover payments that do not fit any of the preceding payment types.

See the following topics for more information:

Adjustments 

Additionally, you can adjust a patient's balance in multiple ways.

  • Balance Adjustments: You can adjust a patient's balance through discounts, write-offs, and refunds. You can also use these functions to transfer a balance from one patient to another.
  • Charge Adjustments: You can remove or correct a charge that has been made to a patient's ledger.
  • Payment Adjustments: You can remove a payment, correct the information included in the payment entry (e.g., amount change, location change, etc.), or update a payment.
    Note: Updating a payment entry changes the original transaction line in the ledger and does not create a new adjustment entry. You can only update minor details including the payment subtype, reference, and transaction comments. 
  • Refund: You can post a refund to a patient's ledger to return part or all of a payment (e.g., if they overpaid, etc.).
  • Discount: A deduction from the office fee for a procedure. You have several different discount types that you can post to a patient's ledger (e.g.,courtesy discount, family discount, etc.).
    --You can also add or update the available Discount Types. See How to Customize Discount / Write-Off Types for more information.
  • Write-Off: You can post a write-off to a patient's ledger to keep track of debt (e.g., if the debt is collectible but is being written off anyway). You can also post a write-off for reasons such as discontinuation of treatment (i.e., if the patient has a balance for a treatment plan and it was never completed and the remaining balance is written off). 
    --There are several write-off types to select from (e.g., Contracted Insurance, Patient Transfer, etc.). See How to Customize Discount / Write-Off Types for more information.
  • Removal: You can remove a transaction (e.g., payment or charge) from the patient's ledger that was posted in error with a note explaining why it was removed. 
  • Contract Adjustment: You can adjust an orthodontic contract to make a portion of the contract current, so that a pre-payment can be applied to its balance. See How to Enter Ortho Contract Pre-Payments for more information. 

Note: Any adjusted, corrected, and removed transactions are retained in the patient ledger. To view them, select Show Audit View. 

See the following topics for more information:

Dates

  • Service Date: Date that the service was performed
  • Transaction Date: Date that the transaction (e.g., payment) was processed and posted to the patient account
  • Acceptance Date: Date that the payment was accepted (generally defined at the time of posting)

Accounts Receivable 

  • Non-Zero Accounts: Any account with a positive or credit balance greater than zero
  • Credit Balance: Account with a negative balance (available credits)
  • Positive Balance: Account with a balance greater than zero dollars
  • Patient Share: Expected amount of the balance that the patient is responsible for. This is the overall balance (Total Due) minus the insurance share.
  • Insurance Share: The amount the insurance company is responsible for, based on the sum of associated insurance debits and credits per each open claim (Dental or Medical) or each active contract (Ortho). This includes the sum of any insurance write-offs, and the value automatically adjusts as claims are opened or closed. 
  • Account Exceptions: Accounts with exceptions require some sort of action (e.g., Patient Record is missing an address, Balance discrepancies across practice locations, etc.)

For more information, see:

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