Managing Patient Accounts > Using Ortho Contracts
The Responsible Party tab is for setting up the details of the payments to be made by the Responsible Party. The amount displayed in the Responsible Party field comes from the amount entered in the Responsible Party amount field in the Contract Information area.
To complete the information for the Responsible Party tab:
In the Initial fee field, enter
the amount you require the Responsible Party to pay up front, typically
at or near the time the ortho appliances are placed. It is charged
to production and begins aging on the day the contract is activated,
or on the Initial fee due date if that is a later date.
PracticeWorks calculates the Remaining balance, which is the difference
between the total Responsible Party amount and the Initial fee. The
remaining balance is divided into payments based on how you enter
the remaining fields on this tab.
If a Responsible Party wants to pay the entire portion up front, you can put the entire Responsible Party amount into this field, so it will all be charged to production as soon as the contract is activated.
In the Initial fee Producer field, enter the producer to whom the initial amount is posted when charged to production. The doctor who has primary responsibility for the patient is typically displayed in the field, but you can use the drop-down list to select a different producer.
Click Select to display the Transaction Code Pick List. Select the transaction code to display in the Initial fee Tx code to charge to production field. This code posts to the ledger when the initial fee is charged out.
Enter the details of the contract schedule by doing one of the following:
In the Recurring payment amt field, enter the amount of the payment to be made at regular intervals, and then click Calc pymts. The number of payments is calculated for you.
In the Number of payments field, enter the number of payments to be made, and then click Calc pymts. The amount of each payment is calculated for you.
You can wait until the other fields are completed before clicking Calc pymts.
In the Recurring payment amt Producer field, select the Producer to whom each of the recurring payments will be posted over the life of the payment schedule.
Change the Payment frequency field, if needed.
Change the Initial fee due date field, if needed.
Change the First payment due date field, if needed.
Click Select to display the Transaction Code Pick List. Select the transaction code to display in the Recurring payment amt Tx code to charge to production field. This code posts to the ledger when each payment is charged out.
After you click Calc pymts or Calc sched, the payment schedule is calculated.
This schedule is used for charging the Responsible Party amount to production, and is printed on the payment schedule, payment coupons, and on some Truth-In-Lending documents.
After the schedule has been generated, you can add, edit, or remove, an individual payment, date, or amount. After editing any part of the schedule, make sure the Total figure at the bottom equals the Remaining balance figure on the left. You cannot save the contract until these numbers match.
You can use the Print button to print the following items:
A payment schedule, using blank paper
Coupons for a payment book, using special forms available from PracticeWorks
A Truth-In-Lending document
Recalculating the Payment Schedule