Establishing Patient Records

The easiest way to get established on your computer system is to simply enter the person who is financially responsible for each family that currently has a balance. Trying to do this while seeing patients can be very confusing. You should set aside a day when you are not seeing patients to complete the remaining steps described in this chapter.

Gather the patient information of the person financially responsible for each family with a non-zero balance (credit or debit).
NOTE: If you have patients on time payment contracts, add the remaining contract balance to the current balance due.
Select Add Patient Records from the Patients Menu. A blank patient record will be displayed on the screen.

You can fill out the entire record for these people if you would like, but the only information required for now is the person's name and address.
The Guarantor number is the account number of the person who is financially responsible for the family. Since the records you have gathered are the financially responsible members of their respective families, the Guarantor number for each person in this stack should be set equal to his account number.
After entering the Guarantor number but before entering the patient phone number, you should press <Ctrl>+<B> (type the letter B while holding down the <Ctrl> key). This displays a window allowing you to enter the date of the last transaction for the family and the current balance.
NOTE: If you need to enter a credit balance for the family, type the desired amount preceded by a minus sign and click Apply.
The new patient is added to the system when you click Apply in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

To Check Your Accuracy:

When you have finished entering all the financially responsible parties in your stack, run a Delinquent Balance List to make sure you have not made any mistakes.

Select Other Financial Reports from the Transactions Menu, and then select Delinquent Balance.
The system prompts for the desired range of patients defaulting to Beginning Patient: A and Ending Patient: Z.
If you want the report in alphabetical order, click Apply to accept the system's defaults.
- If you want the report in the order the patients were entered into the system, click the button to the right of the top name. A second screen pops up with tabs "By Patient Last Name" and "By Patient Number". Click on "By Patient Number" then use the scrolling menu bar on the right to find patient number one. Click on Select to set Beginning Patient. Repeat this procedure but scroll to the bottom to the ending patient and click on Select.
  You can print a list for each doctor by typing a number in the next screen, or a list for all doctors by leaving it blank.
When the system prompts Do you wish to PREVIEW this report?, make sure your Report printer is turned on & loaded with plain paper. Press the No button to begin printing.
Compare the balances on the print-out with your hard-copy record. Correct any mistakes.

If you failed to enter the balance for a family:

Select Family Ledger from the Transactions Menu.
Enter the name or number of the person financially responsible for the family. See Patient Prompt for more information.
Enter 0 as the practitioner number for the office or the actual number if the balance is due a particular practitioner.
Enter the date of the last transaction for the family by clicking on the down arrows by today's default date.
When the system prompts for the ADA code or description again, type: 6. The procedure description will display as Previous Balance.
Enter the balance for the family.

NOTE: If you need to enter a credit balance for the family, type the desired amount preceded by a minus sign then click Add It.

If you have entered the wrong balance for a family:

Select Family Ledger from the Transactions Menu.
Enter the name or number of the person financially responsible for the family. See Patient Prompt for more information.
Press to accept the practitioner number as it is displayed.
Highlight the incorrect transaction, then click Change. Enter the correct balance and click OK.
NOTE: Depending on how you have set your system settings, the system may prompt for your Initials and Password. If you created office personnel records earlier in this chapter, enter the initials and password of a person whose security level is either 4 or 5. If you did not create office personnel records, enter DTC for both the initials and password.
Type the correct amount and click OK.
Click Close to exit and save your changes.

Entering Time Payment Contracts

If you have time payment contracts with some of your patients and have purchased the contract billing capability:

Select Time Payments from the Transactions Menu, and then select Edit Contracts.
When prompted for patient name or number, enter the desired patient (See Patient Prompt). A blank Time Payment Contract will be displayed for the patient.
Enter the remaining contract balance. This should not exceed the active balance that is displayed on the ledger for the family.
Either enter the monthly payment amount, or the number of months remaining on the contract.
If you want the system to calculate service charges on the remaining contract balance each month, click on the circle next to the Y at the Charge Interest? prompt.
Enter the date the first payment was due on the contract at the Apply Charges Beginning prompt.

Repeat these steps for each time payment contract you need to create.

Having completed these steps, your records have been established enough to start seeing patients again without causing undue confusion. The remaining patient information can be entered at your convenience.

If you are concerned with marketing (recall, patient letters, etc.), add the patients you consider to be good prospects as time permits. Otherwise, keep a hard copy file of the remaining patients, and add them to the system when and if they return to the office.

If you have purchased the Treatment Plan capability, you can also add patient treatment plans as time permits.