How to Configure and Use Applied Payments

Related Training
Applied Payments Recorded Class

For practices that pay providers based on collections, Sensei Cloud's Applied Payments functionality enables you to apply funds directly to a provider from posted credits to open debits (charges), and track and report on collection activities (Applied Payments) for each provider. You can apply credits at the time of service or at a later time.

You can also enable a prompt that displays the Apply [Credit] window automatically when a payment is posted, enabling the team member to distribute the funds as part of the workflow.

Note: The Applied Payments feature grants you the ability to apply credits directly to providers when posting a transaction. Follow the instructions in Configuring Applied Payments (below) to ensure the credit distribution rules are appropriately set for your practice.

With this feature, you can:

• Apply credits to open charges or directly to providers when posting the transaction. 
• Apply credits after the transaction is posted.
• View distribution details.
• Track and report on distributions and unapplied credits from the Applied Payments window.

When a credit has been applied in full to a particular charge, a green $ is displayed for that line item in the patient Ledger. A red $ indicates no money has been applied to that item, and a gold $ indicates a partial application.

Configuring Applied Payments

To configure Applied Payments for your practice:

1. From the Administration tab, select Practice Settings > Financial Rules. 
2. Under Actions, select Edit Financial Rules. 
3. Scroll to the Credit Distribution Rules section.
4. For This Practice Distributes Credits To, select Providers Only or Services & Providers.
   
   Note: 
   --Providers Only: Limits your practice to distribute a credit's funds directly to providers.
   --Services & Providers: Enables the option to distribute a credit's funds to providers and/or to debit transactions (charges and adjustments) associated with providers.
5. If you want Sensei Cloud to prompt users to apply posted funds to open charges or providers, click Yes.
   Note: It is recommended that you select Yes to enable the Apply Payment window to display automatically during the Post Payment process. When No is selected, this process requires an extra step of selecting the payment from the ledger and choosing to apply it.
6. If you selected Services & Providers, select if you want the default distribution of credits to be Providers or Services (Debts).
7. Click Save.

For more information, see How to Allocate Payments Directly to Providers. 

Apply Credits When Posting a Transaction

To apply credits (e.g., a payment, write-off, etc.) when posting a transaction (prompt enabled):

1. From the Post New Payment window (or Adjust Balance window if posting a discount, write-off, or refund), enter the payment information and click Post [Credit]. The Apply [Credit] window is displayed showing the amount available to apply.
2. If your practice distributes credits to Services & Providers, click Providers or Services. If not, the window defaults to Providers.
   Any distributions already made to the charge from other credits are accounted for in the Other Payments column. Any existing distributions made towards the charge from the selected credit are displayed in the Apply column.
   
   
   Note: When distributing the funds of an insurance payment, the available charges are limited to those for the associated insurance claim. 
3. To apply a credit to services, select the open charge or charges to which you want to apply this payment, and enter the amount or amounts in the Apply column.
   Note: You cannot over-distribute the credit’s total funds (for example, apply more than is available) or over-distribute to a debit (for example, apply more money than is needed to cover the charge).
4. To apply a credit to providers, in the Amount Paid column for the Provider being credited, enter the amount being distributed to the provider. 
   Note: You can distribute to multiple providers as needed. The distribution details are adjusted automatically.
5. Click Save.
   Note: You can adjust the credit’s distributions at any time, adding distributions for new charges or changing existing distributions.

Apply Credits After Posting a Transaction

To apply credits (e.g., a payment) after posting a transaction:

1. From the Patient tab, select Financials > Ledger.
2. Select a payment to view the details.
   
3. Select Apply this [Credit]. The Apply [Credit] window is displayed.
4. To apply a payment to services, select the open charge or charges to which you want to apply this payment, and enter the amount or amounts in the Apply column.
5. To apply a payment to providers, in the Amount Paid column for the Provider being credited, enter the amount being distributed to the provider. 
6. Click Save.

View Distribution Details

Select the credit in the ledger and click View Distribution Detail. 

You can then see how much of the credit is applied to Providers or Services as well as the remaining amount to apply.

For more information, see How to Access and Report on Applied Payments.