The EXTEND module adds the ability to set up patient Payment Plans based on estimates of the cost of treatment, and to change the payment parameters.

Payment Planning is a good benefit to pass on to patients, and it helps to manage the dental practice cash flow.

Overview

Purpose

The EXTEND module adds a Pay Plans tab in the Patient desktop, and adds the ability to set up patient Payment Plans based on an treatment estimate. Estimates are created after a Course of Treatment has been planned (e.g. Orthodontic Treatment or Implants). Users can manually apply costs to the plan, edit plans, invoice instalments, and view statements per patient. They also have access to Reports based on the combined payment plans in the dental practice.

Features

• Enables users to plan payments with either

  • Fixed-amount instalments for a period, with the time to complete and the instalment amount being the variables, or

  • Fixed number and frequency of instalments where the amount to pay becomes the variable, or

  • Custom Plans where the patient pays set percentages at set times.

• Administer Payment Plans for individual patients.

• Administer all Payment Plans by means of Administration > Payment Plans....

• Link Payment Instalments to appointments so that if the patient changes an appointment, the due date of the Instalment updates automatically.

• Display a list of all Payment Plans.

• Display a list of all invoiced Payment Plan Instalments.

• Single-click to Invoice all due Payment Plan Instalments for a specified date (the default is Today).

• View Clinical Costs, which are the value of the services completed and charged.

• Analyse the Costs of Treatment versus Payment Plan Instalments.

• Use the Costs exceed Invoices Report to identify any patients who have received treatment out of proportion to the amount of money that they have paid thus far under their Payment Plan, so that you can revise the plan if required.

• Balance a Payment Plan by manually creating a balancing entry when the patient no longer wants to continue with the planned treatment.

Benefits

• Offer patients a Payment Plan facility to pay for treatments over time, and have the means to administer plans and instalments from within EXACT.

• EXTEND is an effective tool for steadying and managing the practice cash flow.

• EXTEND provides administrative tools and reports for monitoring and managing payment instalments.

• Receptionists can quickly call up on screen full details of patient payments, including a flashing red "Total Due":

Requirements

EXTEND simply needs to be registered as a module. There are no other requirements.

Using

Creating a Treatment Plan Estimate and Payment Plan

1. Open the Patient File and select a patient.

2. Click the Chart tab and chart the services required to complete the treatment for the patient.

3. Create Estimates of the estimated time for each appointment and fees for each service where required.
   For example:

4. Now open the Pay Plans tab and choose the +1 button to Create Payment Plan.

   Available Estimates appear in a section Estimates not yet in a Payment Plan:

5. Give the Payment Plan a Description, choose a Provider - then use >> (or <<) buttons to move Estimates from Estimates not yet in a Payment Plan section to Estimates in this Payment Plan.

   The Total Estimates Given will then update with amount(s), and the First Instalment Date defaults to today's date:

6. Either retain the First Instalment Date or click in the field to show the date selectors, and edit this date.

   Enter the First Instalment Amount and Instalment Amount. For example:

   In the Number of Instalments field you will see the EXACT calculation of the number of payments needed to fulfil the Total Estimates Given amount using the previous two fields of First Instalment Amount and Instalment Amount

   Following the above example with amounts of 700.00 and 500.00 (total of 1200.00), and instalments of 100.00:

   You could edit these figures to arrive at a different number of instalments. For example, if you changed the instalment amounts to 200.00:

7. When you are satisfied with the details in the Create Payment Plan window select the OK button.

   EXACT creates the Payment Plan, assigns it a number, and displays it in the Pay Plans tab:

Applying Costs to a Payment Plan

1. Treatment Complete (TC) the treatments.

   You will see a popup window prompting for options on the Payment Plan:

2. Select the default option Apply Costs to Selected Payment Plan and select OK.

   The completed COTs then show as Clinical Costs in the Patient Transactions screen:

   ... and in the Pay Plans tab there is updated information for the Clinical Costs:

Editing a Payment Plan

1. Select the Patient in the Patient desktop.

2. Open the Pay Plans tab and select the Payment Plan, then click the Edit button to display the Complete Payment Plan screen:

3. Edit the Instalments as appropriate.

   EXACT may prompt for confirmation.

   For example, if you edit the Remaining Instalments figure in the above screen from 5 instalments to 4 instalments, the Instalment Amount will change from 200.00 to 250.00, and EXACT will prompt you as follows:

   ... and if you click Yes, EXACT recalculates and displays the edited instalment amounts information in the Pay Plans tab > Instalments section:

Invoicing a Payment Plan Installment

1. In the Pay Plans tab, select the Payment Plan and a Pending Instalment (by default the top instalment is selected):

2. Select the Invoice Instalment button to open the Invoice Instalment window:

3. Either retain or edit the Text for Invoice.

4. Edit the Allocations if necessary.

5. Select OK.

   A Print Instalment window appears:

6. Print, Preview or Email the Instalment as normal.

   Back in the Pay Plans tab you will see that the Instalments area has been updated, and the Invoiced Instalment now shows an "Invoiced" label:

   ... and the particulars of the Instalment display in the Patient Transactions window:

Print a Course of Treatment Summary for a Payment Plan

Use the Print Summary button above the Instalments section to print a Course of Treatment Summary Report:

The Report displays

• The status of all Instalments (Payment Plan Details)

• Estimate vs Clinical Costs to Date

• Analysis

Payment Plans and the Appointment Book

Payment Plan instalments can be linked with the future appointments for the patient. For example, if the patient has crown and bridge treatment planned and payments are required at each appointment.

The advantage of linking instalments to appointments is apparent if the patient changes an appointment. The due date of the instalment automatically updates (Instalments, Payment Plan Details) avoiding the possibility of the patient missing the instalment or inappropriate automatic charging occurring.

Linking Payment Plan Installments to Future Appointments

1. Select the patient in the Edit appointment window.

2. Select the required appointment in the Planned Treatment area

3. Click on the down arrow beside the Instalment field and select the instalment to be linked to this appointment:

4. Click or tab to the Invoice Days After Appt field and select the number of days after the appointment the Instalment is due.

5. Click Save to enter this appointment into the Appointment Book.

6. The patient’s appointment in the appointment book will have a clock symbol in the top left corner, indicating that the appointment is linked to an instalment, shown in the example below:

Viewing Clinical Costs in the Patient Transactions Window

The EXTEND Module adds functionality to the Patient Transactions window for viewing Clinical Costs, which are the value of the services completed and charged from the patient Chart tab.

NOTE: While Clinical Costs relating to individual Payment Plans are stored and viewed from the Pay Plan tab, all the Clinical Costs for a patient are stored and viewed from the Patient Transaction window.

With EXTEND enabled, you can view the Patient Transaction Window in 3 modes:

To view clinical costs in the Patient Transactions window

Open the Patient Transactions window by clicking on the button on the Patient Tool Bar, or pressing the [F3] key on your keyboard:

Options:

TIP: In the Patient Transactions window, you can double-click on any transaction line to view the details.

Viewing Clinical Costs Mode

This view would normally be used:

• To satisfy a patient query regarding a Payment Plan

• To analyse the Costs of Treatment v Payment Plan instalments

• In the event that a patient terminates a Treatment Plan early, to determine the amount of the refund or payment that might be due.

To view the Clinical Costs Mode

1. Open the Patient Transactions Window.

2. Click the

   button and select View Clinical Cost Account.

The main body of this window displays only the Clinical Cost transactions for the current patient in date order.

In the example shown the patient has:

• Treatment completed and charged, the cost of which is $69.50

• Payment of $108.90

• Discount of $12.10

The columns in this window contain the following information:

View Both Accounts Mode

This view would normally be used to analyse the status of the patient’s account. It allows easy reference between amounts actually due for payment and the cost of treatment to date.

The columns displayed can be changed, depending on user preference, from the ‘Configure’ menu, under ‘Patient File’, ‘View Transactions’ area. In order to display the maximum amount of information in this view it may be necessary to resize the window.

To view Both Accounts Mode

1. Open the Patient Transactions Window.

2. Click the

   button and select View Both Accounts.

The main body of this window displays both the Clinical Costs Account and the Statement Account for the patient, in date order. During the Treatment Plan, the balance of each account will usually be different but should be equal when all treatment and corresponding Payment Plan are completed.

In the example above, the patient has:

Clinical Costs as described in the previous chapter.

The Deposit Instalment of $121 has been invoiced and debited in the Statement Account, leaving a balance outstanding of $130.

The columns in this window contain the following information:

Administration Lists and Reports

Payment Plans for individual patients are administered from the selected patient’s Pay Plans tab.

All patients’ Payment Plans can be administered as a group from Administration > Payment Plans:

Listing all Payment Plans

Select Administration > Payment Plans > List Payment Plans to display the List Payment Plans Window:

To invoice all Due Instalments

Select Administration > Payment Plans > List Payment Plans... to display List all Payment Plans window:

1. Click the Invoice All Due Instalments button to open the Invoice Due Instalments window:

2. The date defaults to today, but you can edit it to create Invoices for all patients with Instalments due on or before the selected date.

3. Click OK.

4. A window will appear:

5. Click Yes.

   This will update the Patient Transactions window (Statement Account) with a corresponding debit Instalment entry and automatically update the Patient Pay Plan tab information.

Listing Invoiced Instalments

Select Administration > Payment Plans > List Invoiced Instalments...

This window displays a list of all invoiced Instalments and allows either individual or multiple instalments to be printed.

Use the Print button to print the selected instalment or group of instalments (similar to a Statement Run but for the invoiced instalments):

The button will print a list of the invoiced instalments:

Running the COT Costs Exceed Invoices Report

1. Select Administration > Reports > COT Costs Exceed Invoices to display the report dialogue:

2. Select the parameters for this report.

   Providers: Leaving the Provider(s) field empty will print a report for the entire practice, or you can specify one or more providers from the list by using the button.

   Multiple button: Click this button if you want to select a combination of Providers. It opens a Select Providers window:

   Include full COT details: Check (tick) to include full COT details in the report.

3. Click one of the following buttons:
   Print button to send the report to the printer,
   Preview button to preview on screen and then print from the ‘Preview’ screen,
   Email button to Email to specified recipient/s,
   Cancel button to return to the previous screen.

The example below shows the summary page of a Costs Exceed Invoices report for all providers at the practice, with the Include full COT details option selected.

This section of the report includes:

• Patient’s name

• Payment Plan number

• Total cost of all planned treatment

• The total amount of invoices issued to date

• The difference between the cost of treatment provided so far under the plan and the amount invoiced

• The date the next instalment will be invoiced

• The amount of the next instalment.

Running the Costs Versus Statement Summary Report

1. Select Administration > Reports > Costs versus Statement Summary:

2. The Sort By field has the following options:

3. The From and To patient fields will default to the first and last patients in the database, and are used to select other than all patients if required for the report.

4. Alternatively a specific query can be selected in the Select Patients field.

5. Select Provider/s.
   Leave the Provider field blank to include all Providers.
   Use the Selector button

   to select and report on an individual provider.
   Use the Multiple button

   to select and report on a combination of Providers.

6. The As At date will default to the current date. Change if required.

7. If enabled in Print Setup you can select the number of copies and the printer.

8. Click one of the following buttons:
   Print to send the report to the printer,
   Preview to preview on screen and then print from the ‘Preview’ screen,
   Cancel to return to the previous screen.

The report will include:

• Patient’s first and last name

• Patient’s Code

• Patient’s work phone number if listed

• Patient’s home phone number if listed

• The total charges for the Course Of Treatment

• The amount invoiced

• The difference between the cost of treatment and the amount invoiced.

Configuring

Checking if EXTEND is registered

1. Select the Patients icon.

2. If EXTEND is registered you will see a Pay Plans tab:

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