Setting Up a Contract with Insurance or Multiple Responsible Parties

To enter a contract with insurance or with multiple responsible parties:

Click the Financial Functions button in the patient chart. The Financial Functions — Charges and Payments window is displayed.
Click the Contracts and Payment Plans button. The Financial Functions — Contracts and Payment Plans window is displayed.
Select a contract type from the Description drop-down list.

Staff members with security access can also add a new contract type by selecting Add from the drop-down list. For information on modifying this list, see Contract Types.
In the Contract Total field, type the full contract amount before discounts (includes the responsible party portion and insurance carrier portion, if applicable). If there is more than one responsible party or insurance carrier, only the Contract Total field is populated. Press Tab.
If you make a mistake at any time while entering contract information, click Restart to return to the Contract Total field, and enter the information again.

An arrow is displayed next to the first name in the Responsible/Insurance section, and the total amount of the contract is displayed on the first line of the Amount section. Type the portion of the contract the first responsible party is paying. Press Tab.

The remaining portion of the contract is displayed on the next line of the Responsible/Insurance Amount section, and an arrow points to the next name in the Responsible/Insurance section. If there are additional responsible parties/insurance carriers that the contract should be divided between, enter the amount each responsible party/insurance carrier is paying until the total contract amount is disbursed.

If a particular responsible party should not be included in the contract disbursement, enter 0 to skip this responsible party and continue disbursing money to the next responsible party. Press Tab.

Use the mouse or the down arrow to select whether this is a contract or payment plan. Contract is the default. Press Tab.
In the Initial Fee field, type the amount of the contract that is due on the initial fee due date. Press Tab.
The initial fee is immediately due upon activation of the contract.

In the Payment Amount field, type the payment amount (to be paid monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually). Press Tab.
The software calculates the payment amount if you leave this field blank and enter the total number of payments in the Num. of Payments field. The software populates the Payment Amount field automatically.

In the Num. of Payments field, type the number of payments. Press Tab.
If you entered a payment amount, the software calculates the number of payments for you.

In the Init. Fee Due Date field, type the date the initial fee is due to be paid or click the Calendar icon and select a date from the calendar. Press Tab.

The initial fee due date determines when a contract becomes active. If the initial fee due date is the same as your computer’s date, the contract is activated, and the initial fee amount is applied to the current balance when you post the contract. Setting the initial fee due date to a date later than your computer’s date gives the contract a Pending status. Pending contracts are activated by changing the initial fee date, by posting a procedure that has been designated to activate a contract, or by the roll program.

You cannot enter a past date as an initial fee due date.

In the Cont. Start Date field, type the date that the first contract charge should be applied. In a single-due-date system, the date defaults to the roll date for the next month. In a multi-due-date system, the date defaults to one month from the initial fee due date.

To accept the default payment term of Monthly, press Tab. The Spread button is selected. Press Tab. The Next button is selected.

To select a different payment term for the contract, in the Cont. Start Date field use the mouse or a hot key (Alt+Q, Alt+S, Alt+A) to select a new payment term. Press Tab. The Next button is selected.

Click Next or press Enter to continue setting up the contract for the next responsible party/insurance carrier. In the Responsible/Insurance section, a green checkmark is displayed next to the first responsible party, and the arrow moves to the next responsible party/insurance carrier name in the list.

Continue completing contract information for all responsible parties/insurance carriers on the list.

If a responsible party is listed but does not require a contract, tab through the contract fields until the software displays a prompt, acknowledging that the responsible party being skipped does not have a financial contract.

After completing the payment information for the last responsible party/insurance carrier in the Responsible/Insurance section, the Post Transactions button is selected. Click the Post Transactions button or press Enter.
If you selected the Prompt for Contract Payment Coupons option in the System Options window in System Maintenance, the software asks if you want to print contract payment coupons. To print coupons, click Yes. The Print Setup window is displayed. Click OK.
You can print coupons at a later date by selecting Reports > Contract > Coupons in the patient’s Contracts and Payment Plans window or Reports > Financial > Coupon Books from the main menu. For more information, see Printing Coupon Books.

The following options are displayed:

To enter a start date, click Yes when prompted and type the start date in the field.

If a start date is present but you do not have an estimated completion date, click Yes when prompted and type the estimated completion date in the field.