Setting Up Contracts

To set up a contract:

In a patient chart, click the Financial Functions button. 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.

If you make a mistake while entering contract information, click Restart and enter the information again.

In the Description field, select a contract description from the drop-down menu or add a new description. Press Tab.
In the Contract Total field, type the full contract amount before discounts, which includes the responsible party portion and insurance carrier portion, if applicable. Press Tab. The total contract amount is displayed next to the first responsible party listed in the Responsible/Insurance section.
If the first responsible party is paying the entire contract amount, press Tab again.
In the Initial Fee field, type the amount of the contract that is due on the initial fee due date. Press Tab.
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.
In the Num. of Payments field, type the number of payments. Press Tab.
In the Init. Fee Due Date field, type the date the initial fee is due. Press Tab.

The initial fee due date determines when a contract becomes active. If you use the current date, the contract is activated, and the initial fee amount is applied to the current balance when you post the contract. If you use a date in the future, the status of the contract is Pending.

In the 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 use the default payment term of Allow only 1 Charge per Month, press Tab. The Spread button is selected. Press Tab. The Post Transactions button is selected.

To use a different payment term for the contract, select a new payment term. Press Tab. The cursor immediately moves to the Post Transactions button.

Type a description.
Press Enter or click the Post Transactions button. If you have not entered a banding date, the Contract message is displayed.
To enter a banding date, click the calendar next to the Start Date field and select a date, or type the date in the field.
To enter an estimated completion date, click the calendar next to the Est Comp field and select a date, or type the date in the field.