Need to print out a year-end HSA or tax statement?

Well, it is almost tax time and you are probably getting several requests from patients looking for year-end statements for their records to make the April 15^th deadline. Instead of printing an account ledger, which can be extremely confusing to patients, I am going to show you two alternative options. You can also use the second option for patients who are looking for statements to report to their HSA accounts.

The first option is if the patient does not need the year-end statement to have ADA codes. Open the Ledger > File > Search Payments. This will open a new window where you will select the parameters for your search (date range, guarantor name, payment types, etc.), then select Print.

 

 

 

The second option is if you need a payment history that includes ADA codes (most HSA plans want the ADA codes included). First, go to the Office Manager > Maintenance > Practice Setup > Preferences and make sure the “use ADA codes in description” is checked. Next, from the Office Manager > Reports > Billing, we are going to create a customized billing statement as a year-end print out.

• Change the Beginning Balance Forward date to the beginning of the year reported and the Statement Date to the end of the report year
• Select the Guarantor family
• Set the Minimum Balance to Bill to 0
• Uncheck all options
• Clear out the Statement Message
• Uncheck Save as Default

 

 

CDT 2014 Update . . . have you installed it?

Here it is March 18th and I still see offices that have not yet installed the CDT 2014 ADA codes yet.  If you are in this list here is a video that will help you with the update.  Don't wait, there are many new codes that will benefit your office. 

Early Bird registration deadline March 31st for Business of Dentistry

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If you are thinking about bringing your team to the Business of Dentistry Conference this year today is the first deadline for early bird discount.  CLICK HERE to be directed to the registration page and don't forget to sign up for my class :)

Get creative with your ASAP list

I was working with an office recently and they have a program specifically for patients who do not pre-appoint. These patients are mostly retired and have very flexible schedules. They don’t want to tie down their schedules in four or six months so they just say, “Call me when you get an opening.” This office had a manual tracking system for these patients but wanted to find a way to incorporate this into their Dentrix system. Since you cannot put a patient on the ASAP list unless they have a scheduled appointment, we had to come up with something creative … so we gave these patients a specific status that we could search for within the Continuing Care system.

If you go to the Family File and open the Continuing Care window, highlight the Prophy or Perio and click edit, you will notice a drop down menu for Status. These status types are customizable in your definitions. Go to the Office Manager > Maintenance > Practice Setup > Definitions and, in the drop down menu, find Continuing Care Status. Highlight one you can change and rename it to “LMF – Last Minute Fills” or “On-call – ASAP list” then click Change. Now you will find this new status in your drop down menu in the patient’s Continuing Care box on his or her Family File. You will need to assign this status to any patient who you want to be on a call list but do not pre-appoint.

When you go to run your list of these patients, go to the Appointment Book and open the Continuing Care list. Click on Temporary View, select the type, status, due date, and then click OK. This is a great way to create an ASAP list without clogging up your appointment book with unnecessary “fake” appointments.