Getting Started > Setting Up Statements and Messages > Setting Office-Wide Statement Defaults
To set the defaults for statement printing, select File > Preferences > Statement Setup. The Office Wide Statement Setup window is displayed.
The Statement Setup window includes the following options:
Print mail statements? To print mail statements for your accounts, select this option. If you do not want to print statements, deselect this option.
Minimum balance to print This is the lowest balance an account can have and still receive a mail statement, with the exceptions of two other options in this section, Print zero balances and Print credit balances.
Print zero balances To send a statement to a patient whose balance is now zero, but who had a balance the last time you sent them a statement, select this option. The responsible party receives one statement showing a zero balance; no further statements are generated until the patient incurs additional charges.
Print credit balances To send a statement to accounts with a credit balance, select this option. Be aware that a significant percentage of those patients are likely to call your office to request that you send them a check. For that reason, many practices will not choose this option.
Billing cycle You have two choices for this selection: monthly or in days (a specific number of days designated by the practice). Most offices select monthly, which results in a statement cycle of roughly 30 days, (more or less in months with other than 30 days), and statements are sent on the same day each month. If that day coincides with a date that your office is closed one month, you will return to that day in the next month, assuming your office is open at that time.
If you choose a specific number of days, (presumably so you can send statements more often than monthly), the day of the month that statements are ready to be printed will vary.
Day of month to print To always send statements on the same day of the month (or on the next business day after that day), enter that date here. You can use any number from 1 through 31; however, most offices choose a number between 1 and 28 because not all months have 29, 30, or 31 days.
In October, your office might want to set the Day of month to print field to a slightly earlier date, such as the 23rd. This enables statements to print before the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
If you want the PracticeWorks software to automatically determine each new patient's Day of month to print, put 0 in this field. The Day of month to print is permanently set to the patient’s first date of treatment plus the number listed in the New activity delay days field. This results in your office printing a few statements each day, rather than a big batch once a month.
Any patient’s Day of month to print can be reset to 0 if either the Reset when balance paid option or the Reset when insurance payment received option is selected.
Reset when balance paid By setting the Day of month to print field to 0, you are telling the PracticeWorks software to assign each new patient a particular day of the month to receive statements. To reset each patient's Day of month to print after they pay off their balance each time, select this option.
Reset when insurance payment received To send a statement each time an insurance payment is received, select this option.
If your office sets the Day of month to print field to 0, PracticeWorks assigns each new patient a particular day of the month to receive statements. Selecting the Reset when insurance payment received field ensures that the software generates statements whenever an insurance payment is received, rather than waiting for the next Day of month to print, which could be as long as 29 days.
New activity delay days When a patient incurs new charges after carrying a zero or negative balance, the number of days in the New activity delay days field is added to the date of the fees, which determines the date of the first mail statement after the charges. This applies both to new patients and to existing patients who have paid off their balance.
If the Day of month to print is not set to 0, it means that your office sends statements to all patients with an eligible balance on the same day of the month, every month, regardless of other activity on the account. In this situation, the New activity delay days field is only used when the patient initially incurs charges.
Any patient’s Day of month to print can be reset to 0 if either the Reset when balance paid option or the Reset when insurance payment received option is checked.
Delay until ALL insurance clears Practices rarely select this option. It is only used by offices who want to assume full responsibility for all tracking of their patients' insurance claims. If you select this option, no statement ever generates for an account on which there is any outstanding insurance, no matter how old the claim.
Print amount due and date Select this field if you want your mail statements to inform your patients of the exact amount you expect them to pay and the date by which this amount is due. If you do not select this option, the patients will only see what their balance is, and no specific date for payment requirement will be printed.
If you select this option, you must put something in the Due date is XX days from statement print field. We recommend selecting the Subtract insurance estimate from amount due option as well. If you do not, your statements will always say that the total balance on the account is what you expect to be paid, regardless of any outstanding insurance.
To customize the messages on the statements that tell the patient how much to pay and when the amount is due, launch the PracticeWorks software, then go to File > Preferences > Statement Messages, and select the one you want to revise.
Due date is XX days from statement print If you selected the Print amount due and date option, you must indicate in this field how many days after the statement is printed the payment will be due. For example, if the statement prints on the 16th and this field is set to 10, the statement will say the payment amount specified is due on the 26th.
You can charge a late charge if the specified payment is not received by the specified due date. For more information, see the Late charge definition.
Subtract insurance estimate from amount due Select this option to show the status of any pending insurance claims. If you do not select this option, your patients will not know how much of the balance they must pay. We recommend selecting the Claim is stale after XX days and List outstanding claims options if you select this field.
Claim is stale after XX days If you selected the Subtract insurance estimate from amount due option, then you must also select the Claim is stale after XX days option. This number determines the age an insurance claim must reach before the software identifies it as a stale claim. After that, the claim is no longer included in the estimated insurance figure on a patient's statement.
Print account age message To print account aging messages on your mail statements, select this option. There are two exceptions to this rule for message printing:
If the message area for the aging category is blank, no message will print.
OR
If a Yellow Sticky note is marked to print on this patient's statement, it will override the default aging message.
You can edit the text of these messages by clicking File > Preferences > Statement Messages and selecting the one you wish to change.
List outstanding claims To list all outstanding claims on each account on the mail statement, with the date, amount, and estimated insurance benefit for each one, select this option. We recommend that you select this option in conjunction with the Subtract insurance estimate from amount due option.
Transactions to print: since last statement vs. details of balance To print only the charges incurred since the patient last received a statement, select the since last statement option. If no additional transactions have been posted to the patient’s ledger since the previous statement, then the next statement will show only the total balance due.
To print an itemized list of charges on every statement, select the details of balance option. Few offices use this option because statement output takes longer, and uses more paper than the since last statement option.
Charge interest To charge interest based on your selected parameters, select this option.
Charge interest on payment plans To charge interest on the total outstanding balance of any payment plans that are older than the grace period, select this option in addition to the Charge interest option.
Monthly interest rate The software uses the monthly interest rate to calculate interest charges. To determine the rate to enter in this field, divide the annual interest rate you want to charge by 12.
Minimum interest charge When the software calculates interest for an account, the resulting calculation is compared to the number in the Minimum interest charge field. If the calculation is equal to or greater than this number, then that amount is charged to the account as an interest charge.
If the interest calculation is less than the figure in the Minimum interest charge area, then the amount in this field is charged to the account as a "re-billing" charge. Most offices set this field to an amount between $3.00 and $5.00.
Interest grace period (days) PracticeWorks calculates interest based on unpaid transactions in an account that are older than the value in this field. This grace period applies to all interest calculated for your practice.
Minimum balance to charge interest When calculating an interest charge, the software first compares the account balance to the value in this field. If the balance is less, no interest is calculated. This, in conjunction with the Minimum interest charge field, prevents the software from adding charges to an account with a very small balance. Most practices set this field to the same amount as the Minimum balance to print statements field.
Late charges To penalize accounts that are past due, verify that the Print amount due and date option is selected, and type an amount greater than $0.00 in the Late charge field. Late fees are posted when the patient's last statement payment is past due and the grace period has passed. The grace period for the late fee should not exceed the window of time between the last statement printing and the next statement printing, or else the late charge will never be applied.
Related Topics
Setting Office-Wide Statement Defaults
Setting Up Statements and Messages
Preparing and Printing Statements