Making a Discount Adjustment

A discount adjustment enables you to give the patient or responsible party a discount on a contract or balance. There are five pre-defined discount types to choose from, and you can change these to reflect the type of discounts offered in your practice. See Renaming a Category or Transaction for more information. More...More...

When you enter a discount, the software expects the amount entered to be a negative amount. If you enter a positive amount for the discount, the software displays a warning, stating that discount amounts are typically negative and that the only reason to enter a positive discount amount is if you have previously entered a discount for the selected account and are attempting to correct an error. If you click Yes and no adjustments exist, the software displays a message stating that no adjustments exist to reverse, and the transaction is zeroed out.

ExampleExample

You enter a contract for the full amount and need to give a discount for paying the contract in full. Select the Discount option from the adjustment selections. The software displays a menu that enables you to indicate the type of discount you want to post.

Type the amount (-) or the percentage of the discount in the Discount Amt field and press Enter. The software defaults to affect both the total and current balances (and the oldest aging bucket.) To affect total only, double-click the amount in the Adj (+/-) section of the Discount Adjustment grid on the Current Balance line, type 0 and press Enter.

Discounts and write-offs have user-defined options that you can change to suit your practice, such as Family Discount or HMO Write-Off.

The discount adjustment is not used for non-contract charges. See Discounts for Non-Contract Charges for information about general discounts.

To make a discount adjustment:

Select the Discount option button in the Financial Functions — Adjustments window. The account balance information is displayed in the center of the Financial Functions — Adjustments window.
In the Type of Discount section, select the discount type.
In the Account to Adjust box, select whether you want the discount to affect the responsible party balance or the insurance balance.
The amounts shown in the Actual column of the Discount Adjustment window reflect the amount owed by the responsible party or insurance carrier for the selected patient only.

In the Discount Amt field, type the amount of the discount either as a percentage (10/ or 10%) or a negative dollar amount (-50). The software calculates the effect on the account balances and aging.
Review the default comment displayed in the Comment section. Add your own comment at the end of this comment, or select the comment and replace it with another comment. Click the Post Transactions button to update the account.
Discounts can be reversed if they were posted in error. Select the adjustment you want to reverse and use a positive dollar amount. If any discounts exist on the ledger, they are displayed in the adjustment grid for selection.