How to Enter Bulk Insurance Payments

 Related Training
Processing Bulk Insurance Payments Recorded Class

Access the Bulk Insurance Payments worklist from your Location's To Do list.

From here, you can:

• Add insurance payments to the list. Once they are added, you can return to apply payments to claims and process details, per the payment's Explanation of Benefits (EOB).
• Filter the list by status (Incomplete, Completed) or Payer.
• Select a payment to view details and apply amounts to associated patient claims.
• Enter insurance payment adjustments (overpayments, etc.).
• Edit (pencil) or delete (red x) line items as needed.
• Mark the payment Complete, which posts it to the appropriate ledgers.
• Print a detailed Bulk Insurance Payment Summary for completed payments.

Note: You can use the Abandon Bulk Payment option prior to completing if the payment or portions thereof were entered erroneously or in duplicate and you want to stop the processing of the payment details and start over.

IMPORTANT: If a bulk payment is completed erroneously, there is no way to undo the bulk payment. Once bulk payments are completed, they are locked and non-reversible. However, if a bulk payment is completed in error, you can make manual adjustments within each patient ledger as needed. For more information, see How to Adjust or Remove Payments on the Patient Ledger. 

Adding a Payment to the List

To add a new bulk insurance payment:

1. From the Location tab, select To Do > Bulk Insurance Payments. 
2. Under Actions, click Add New Bulk Payment. The New Bulk Payment Entry window is displayed.
3. Enter the Date Received and select the Payer from the list.
4. For Payment Type, select: Insurance - Check, Insurance - Credit Card, or Insurance - EFT.
5. Enter the Amount of the payment.
6. In the Reference field, type the check number, CC number, or EFT reference number of the payment.
7. Click Create Payment. The payment is added to the list.

Processing a Bulk Payment

As you enter bulk payment details, your progress is indicated in dollar amounts at the top:
Claim Payments Entered, Claim Adjustments Entered, Bulk Adjustments Entered, Difference. The payment is ready to complete when the Difference amount equals $0.00.

Apply to a Patient Claim

To distribute payment funds to a patient claim:

1. Select the payment from the Bulk Insurance Payment list. The details and options are expanded.
   
2. Click Add Patient Payment / Adjustment. You are prompted to search for a patient. 
3. Select the patient. The Add Claim Payment / Overpayment Adjustment window is displayed with Distribute Payment to Claim selected by default.
   
4. Use the Claim field to select the claim being addressed by this payment. If the claim is not displayed in the list, begin typing until it is displayed. You can search by payer, claim number, or date of service.
   Note: Not all claims are displayed in the list by default (those awaiting attachments, already paid, etc.). You can retrieve them by typing the number into the Search field, unless they are queued, canceled, or were never sent.
5. In the Acceptance Date field, the date defaults to the date the payment is being entered, but you have the option to select a different date (i.e. Date of Service) for each individual payment.
6. In the Amount field, enter the amount being paid for the selected claim.
   Note: You can enter a $0 amount if the EOB indicates no payment on a particular claim. This enables you to close that claim and proceed with secondary billing or additional next steps.
7. If there is a Write-Off Amount, enter it in this field. The Write-Off Comment field becomes active, and you must enter a comment to describe the write-off. The write-off and comments are saved with the claim details.
   Note: Repeat these steps as needed if multiple claims are being addressed with this payment.
8. Click Create Payment. The distribution is added to the details for the bulk payment.

Note: If the patient has multiple insurance policies covering a course of treatment, the Subsequent Policy field is active, and you can select the policy from that list. 

Enter an Adjustment

Underpayment Adjustment

When the EOB for an insurance payment contains an adjustment for an underpayment, follow the steps above to apply the indicated amount to the patient's claim/ledger.

Overpayment Adjustment

When the EOB contains an overpayment adjustment:

1. Select the payment from the Bulk Insurance Payment list. The details are displayed.
2. Click Add Patient Payment / Adjustment. You are prompted to search for a patient. 
3. Select the patient. The Add Claim Payment / Overpayment Adjustment window is displayed.
4. Select the Adjust Overpayment to Claim tab. 
5. Use the Claim field to select the claim that received the overpayment. 
6. Enter the Adjustment Amount.
7. Click Create Adjustment. A line item is created in the details for the insurance payment, indicating the claim number with the entered amount in the Adjustment Amount column. 

Bulk Payment Adjustment

A payment can include an adjustment amount that does not apply to a specific claim, such as interest for an underpayment that was not corrected in a timely manner. This is considered a Location adjustment.
To enter this type of adjustment:

1. Select the payment from the Bulk Insurance Payment list. The details are displayed.
2. Select Add Bulk Payment Adjustment.
3. Enter the Amount specified, and an explanation in the Comments field.
4. Click Create Location Adjustment. The adjustment is displayed in the payment details, in a separate table underneath the table containing patient/claim details. 

Completing a Bulk Payment

After all the distributions and adjustments have been entered, and the Difference equals $0.00, click the Complete Bulk Payment button.

• The entries are posted to the patients' ledgers.
• Payment details are added to the Financial Daysheet as Bulk Payment Insurance entries for each category (check, credit cards, EFTs), as well as corrections and write-offs.
• The bulk payment is added to the Deposit Slip portion of the Daysheet.
• The payment status is changed to Completed, and a summary can be printed. 

Applying/Distributing Payments from Completed Bulk Payments

If your practice has enabled this functionality, completed bulk payments display an Apply button for each payment entry within the bulk payment. To apply payments from a completed Bulk Insurance Payment:

1. From the Bulk Insurance Payment screen, Filter List, select Completed.
2. Select a bulk payment from the list. The individual payments are displayed.
3. In the Actions column, click Apply. The Apply Payment window is displayed for that payment, enabling you to select how to distribute the funds.
4. Make the distributions and click Save.

For more information, see How to Enable and Use Applied Payments. 

Printing a Bulk Insurance Payment Summary

The Bulk Insurance Payment Summary can be printed and saved to provide additional documentation of how a payment was distributed.

To print a Bulk Insurance Payment Summary report:

1. From the Location tab, select To Do > Bulk Insurance Payments. 
2. From the Filter List, select Completed.
   Note: You can click the column heads to sort the list.
3. Select the payment you want to print. The details are displayed.
4. Click Print Bulk Payment Summary. A .PDF file is created that you can print or save with the Daysheet.