The debtors list is a list of patients with outstanding balances (positive or negative).
This list should be created at regular intervals (normally once per month) and will print one line per patient grouping the debt based on how old it is.
To Run the 'Debtors List' Report
- From the ‘Administration’ menu, click ‘Reports’ and select ‘Debtors List’:
- The ‘Sort Patients By’ option allows the report to sort on a number of criteria:
- The ‘From’ and ‘To’ patient fields can be changed to select the Aa-Zz range to avoid printing a Statement for archived patients.
By using the ‘Select Patients’ field, a query can be selected or defined for the patients within the ‘From’ and ‘To’ range, making it possible to print Statements for selected groups of patients as defined in the query.
- A provider can be selected by clicking in the field and using the button. Selecting a provider will print a ‘Debtors List’ showing only the amount owed by the patient to the selected provider. Leaving the Provider(s) field empty will print a ‘Debtors List’ for the entire practice.
- Clicking the Multiple button will allow printing for a combination of Providers or leave blank to pick up all patients for all providers
- The ‘As At’ date will default to the current date, which is recommended for the report to run most effectively.
- The ‘Days for Aging’ can be used to find patients overdue for payment, and defaults to 30 days. This means any balance owing for less than 30 days will not be considered overdue. The number of days specified can be changed in accordance with practice policy.
With "Only Overdue Balances" unticked this "Days for Aging" value will be used to showing how old the debt is. by default (30 days) it'll have columns for "Current", "30 Days", "60 Days" & "90 Days+". - It is possible to specify a ‘Minimum Balance’ amount that will exclude patients that have a balance less that that amount; e.g. entering a minimum balance of $10/£10 will exclude patients who owe less than $10. Generally you would specify a minimum balance as the amount you would not consider to be worth chasing up, due to the costs of phone calls and/or postage and of administrative time.
Note: For this report to function effectively, a 'Minimum Balance' figure must be specified.
In the checkboxes at the bottom of the window:
Select
To Print
Only Overdue Balances
If checked this will produce a patient balance summary showing only those patients with overdue accounts; i.e. anyone with a credit balance will not appear on the report.
Include Payors
Includes amounts outstanding by Payor as well as patients.
Click ‘Print’ to send the report to the printer, ‘Preview’ to preview on screen and then print from the ‘Preview’ screen, 'Email' to email a copy of the report to an email recipient, ‘Export’ to create a file readable in Excel, or ‘Cancel’ to return to the previous screen.
The example below shows a Debtors List for patients treated by all Providers, including:
- All patients with an outstanding balance over £10.00/$10.00
- Payors with outstanding balances.
The report is broken down in the following way:
Surname | This will show the patients surname. |
First Name | This will show the patient’s first name. |
Last Statement | This will show the date when a statement was last sent to the patient. |
Stop Credit | If there is a * in this column it indicates that a ‘stop credit alert’ has been put against the patients record to indicate that they are a bad debt risk. |
Total | This shows the total amount of money outstanding. |
Current | This shows the current outstanding balance; for example, if a patient has a total outstanding balance of $150 but only $10 of that has been outstanding for more than 90 days, $140 would be under the current column and $10 under the 90 day column. |
30 Days | This will show any balance that has been owed for more than 30 days but less than 60 days. |
60 Days | This will show any balance that has been owed for more than 60 days but less than 90 days. |
90 Days | This will show any balance that has been owed for more than 90 days. |
To reduce patient debt - strategies
- Ask all patients to sign a copy of their treatment plan, which details
- the cost of each treatment item
- when payment for each item is due
- the acceptable payment methods
Either scan this agreement into the patient's file or complete it via Clinipad for automated storage
- At each appointment stage the clinician charges the treatment completed to create an invoice.
- Before making the next appointment Receptionists ask the patient which payment method they are going to use to settle the balance and process the payment.
- If the patient fails to pay, print an invoice with a suitably worded footer explaining that payment is required within seven days.
- Monitor the List Invoices report weekly and send an SMS or email reminder to settle the account to any patients who still have an open amount.
- Generate the Debtors List Report monthly with 30 day aging and create appropriate account letters or emails (with statements attached) for 30, 60 and 90 day outstanding accounts.
- If contracting a Debt Recovery Agency, ensure that they are a commission-only agency (pay them for results only; do not pay in advance).
- Write off historical debt and mark the patient as a bad debt risk. Generate an annual report to list written off account values. Create two ‘write off’ categories to split treatment debt and debt incurred from failed / cancel charges.
- If debt is a big issue for your practice, consider taking payments in advance, especially with patients who have a history of bad payments.
Related articles
To find patients in credit see How do I find patients in Credit / Negative Balance