Sometimes situations arise where money needs to be moved from one ledger to another. Maybe a payment was posted to the insurance ledger by mistake, and that payment amount needs to be moved to the responsible party ledger. Oftentimes, an insurance policy will terminate, and that balance needs to be moved to the responsible party ledger. You could also have a situation where a subscriber just got new insurance, and a part of the balance on the responsible party ledger needs to be moved to the new insurance ledger. So, how can you transfer balances?
This article will walk you through transferring balances from one ledger to another with ease. Whether it is from a responsible party to insurance, from insurance to a responsible party, or even from one patient to another, it may seem daunting at first. However, you'll quickly get the hang of it and become a balance transfer pro.
Before you begin, you'll want to be familiar with accounting and posting adjustments in Cloud 9.
Let's start with the scenario where a payment was posted to the wrong ledger. We'll say it was posted to the insurance ledger rather than the patient ledger. The easiest way to take care of this is to go to the insurance ledger and click the 'adjustments' icon. In that screen, you will want to choose 'Transfer' as the adjustment type, which will open up two sides of the adjustment screen. On the right-hand side, you will want to select the same patient again and then select the responsible party under the 'Responsible Party' box. The 'Insurance' box will be left blank. Then, on the left-hand side, you will want to put the payment amount (as a negative number) in the 'Due Now Adjustment' box. On the right-hand side, you will simply select whether you want the payment applied to the Due Now ('Receivables') or the Future Due ('Contract'). In a payment scenario, it will most likely be 'Receivables'. Now hit 'Save' and you're done!
Now, let's try a scenario where the patient's insurance is terminated, and you need to move that money over to the patient ledger. You will go to the 'Adjustments' button from the insurance ledger and choose 'Transfer', as mentioned above. You will also select the Responsible Party on the right-hand side, as noted above. This time, you will also want to select the contract in the 'Contract' box on both sides because we will be moving money from Future Due to Future Due on both sides. At the bottom, on the left-hand side, you will enter the amount you want to transfer in the 'Contract Adjustment' box. On the right-hand side, you will simply select 'Contract'. If you want that money to be due immediately rather than allowing the patient to make payments, you would choose 'Receivables'. Hit 'Save', and you're done! That money has been moved from the insurance ledger to the patient/responsible party ledger. If you're allowing the patient to make payments on that amount, you would want to go to the contract screen and adjust the payment plan accordingly.
And that's all there is to balance transfers. It may seem intimidating at first, but once you complete one or two, you'll quickly become more and more comfortable with any type of balance transfer. And, of course, we're always here to help if you need us!