In this section, you can view and manage how your practice assigns charges, accepts payments, and deals with estimated charges. You can also customize related forms, including insurance invoices, service receipts, and billing statements.
General
Show dropdown menu to manually assign charge "ownership" when charge is added or edited
The owner of a charge is credited with charges (and corresponding payments) on billing reports. By default:
- Charges added outside of an encounter note are owned by the user who added the charge.
- Charges added inside of an encounter note are owned by the user who owns the note, e.g., the signer, if it is signed, or the person who created or last edited it if it is unsigned.
Where the charge owner may need to be different from the default, you can show a dropdown menu in the Add Charge window, so the user adding the charge can assign it to a different owner. For a user to show in that assign charge to drop down, they must have “Can this user be assigned charges” set to yes within their user profile (Admin > Manage > Users).
Allow manual ownership of charges for all charges?
In some clinics, any charges added inside of an encounter note should always be owned by the note signer. While other charges added outside of encounter notes may need to be manually assigned. In that case, they would allow manual ownership of only charges added outside of encounter notes. Otherwise, the clinic would allow manual ownership to be designated for all charges.
Should charges default to being owned by/ assigned to the patient's primary assigned provider?
If charges may be added by administrators or other users but should generally be owned by the patient’s primary assigned provider, this can be set as the default.
All users can see wholesale pricing for charges (when hovering over a charge to see it's details)
By default, all users can see wholesale prices by hovering over a charge in the charge search or patient’s chart. If only those users that have access to Admin > Manage > Charge List should be able to see charge wholesale pricing, you can toggle “All users can see wholesale pricing for charges” to “No.”
Show custom payment methods when adding patient payments
You can define custom payment methods to show alongside default methods (Credit Card, Check, Cash, and Other) when adding payments to patients’ charts. This then allows for those custom payment methods to show in End of Day reports. Note that adding a custom payment method for an external payment processing system that you use does not create any link between Cerbo and the external payment processing system.
Estimated charges
Estimated charges can be prospective or prepaid charges that are added to a holding tank, and converted into regular charges when purchased (if prospective) or redeemed (if prepaid).
- Estimated charges on a patient's account do not affect their account balance or appear on their account statement or in your end of day billing reports.
- An estimated invoice can be generated using these charges and provided to the patient.
If estimated charges are enabled, users adding charges will see additional options to add TO estimated charges, or add FROM estimated charges (e.g., convert an estimated charge into a regular charge). Anything added to estimated charges will be shown in a separate section of the billing history.
Name to display in system
If you use estimated charges not for estimates but to track, for example, prepaid charges, you can rename estimated charges to prepaid charges, or whatever else is most descriptive for your need.
Allow payments to be applied toward estimated charges
If estimated charges are being used for estimates in the traditional sense, then you would leave this setting toggled off, as payment would be taken and applied only after the estimates are approved and converted to regular charges. However, if you are using estimated charges to track a patient's prepaid services, then you would want to allow payments to be applied toward estimated charges. The paid estimated charges would then be converted into regular charges when the prepaid services are redeemed.
Show “Estimated Charges” as a separate mini block
If this is toggled off, then estimated charges will be visible in a separate section in the patient’s expanded billing history, and within the encounter note in which they were added (if applicable). Turning this option on increases the visibility of the patient’s open estimated charges by showing those in an additional block above the regular Billing block on their chart and in the encounter note view.
Show “Estimated Charges” box inside an encounter note for all encounter notes?
By default, an Estimated Charges box will show in an encounter note (below the regular Charges/ Payments box) only if estimated charges were added in that note. This is to reduce visual clutter. But you can select to always show the estimated charges box inside the encounter note, if desired.
Estimate invoices settings
If you use estimated charges to provide estimates, then you may generate an estimate invoice to provide to the patient for review and approval. You can use the applicable settings to customize the default documents tab that these are saved under, add or edit the disclaimer message shown in yellow at the top of the estimate invoice, and show/ hide the total before discounts next to the discounted total on the invoice.
Subscriptions ("milestone birthdays")
In the list of all active subscriptions/ recurring membership payments, flag patients who are near a "Milestone" birthday?
If your practice uses the subscriptions, you might have different rates or policies for subscribers in different age groups. Accordingly, patient ages are displayed in the Active Subscriptions List found under Reporting > Recurring Invoices > Active Subscriptions.
Cerbo defines (and you can modify) a set of potentially demographically significant membership milestone birthdays. Anyone with a milestone birthday within a set interval (by default, 2 months) will have a birthday cake icon shown beside their age in the Active Subscriptions list. That list can then be reviewed periodically to contact or update subscriptions for those who are moving into a new subscription bracket.
You can use this section of System Settings to view and modify the milestones that are relevant to you, and to define how far in advance of such a birthday your subscribers should be flagged in the Active Subscriptions List.
Insurance Billing
Allow allocation of charges between insurance and patient responsibility
If you accept insurance, you can allow for allocation of charge balances between insurance and patient responsibility. If turned on, charges that are marked as “Add to Insurance Invoice” will have lines to apportion the amount due between an insurance share and the patient responsibility.
Amounts that are apportioned to insurance share/ obligation do not affect the patient’s account balance. Outstanding insurance share amounts show up in a list under Reporting > Insurance Payments, and can be used by clinics that bill insurance to bulk-generate HCFA claim forms or an EDI download file.
Insurance Invoice/Superbill
Using the System Settings, you can also view and modify what information is included in insurance invoices, set how that information appears on the invoice, and determine when such an invoice should be marked as "Paid in Full".
See Generate Insurance Invoice (superbill) or Receipt : Online Help
Service Receipts
A service receipt is a patient-facing receipt that shows the amounts charged and paid (see Generate Insurance Invoice (superbill) or Receipt).
Use these settings to customize how receipts for service should be constructed and displayed. You can choose what sections and details are included a receipt, and add customized messages at the top or bottom.
Billing Statement
You can generate a printable, faxable billing statement for a patient’s account from their Billing History, by clicking Print Statement in the upper right-hand corner.
Use the settings in this section to customize what information is included on billing statements.