Checking out patients

You can enter a payment, generate a walkout statement, and create claims at the same time for a patient when that patient is ready to check out after a visit.

To check out a patient

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Click (or tap) Patient Walkout on a patient's appointment card in the Checkout section of the routing panel.

    • How to get there

      1. If the correct patient is not already selected, use the Patient Search box to access the patient's record.

        Note: You can include inactive patients in the search results by setting the Include inactive patients switch to On.

      2. Do one of the following:

        • On the Patient menu, under General, click (or tap) Overview. The patient's Overview page opens. Click (or tap) the Ledger box.

        • On the Patient menu, under Financial, click (or tap) Ledger.

        The patient's Ledger page opens.

      On a patient's Ledger page, click (or tap) Patient Walkout.

    The Patient Walkout dialog box appears.

  2. Perform the necessary tasks on the following tabs for checking the patient out after his or her visit:

    • Discount

      Discount tab

      The Discount tab is available only if the patient does not have insurance coverage, has a sliding fee assigned to his or her patient record, and has a poverty level with a per visit charge.

      1. For each patient, do the following:

        • From the Visit charge provider list, select the provider who you want to associate with the visit charge.

        • Select the checkboxes of the procedures that are part of the visit.

      2. Click (or tap) Post Discount.

        Note: For each patient's visit, Dentrix Ascend posts a discount (credit adjustment) that is equal to the sum of the selected procedures and applies that credit to those procedures. Then, for each patient, Dentrix Ascend posts the procedure that has been assigned as a visit charge.

    • Create Claims

      Create Claims tab

      1. Select the checkboxes of any completed procedures posted to the patient's ledger that are not attached to claims.

        Note: For an orthodontic procedure (D8001-D8999), if the treatment information is missing, a warning message appears at the top of the dialog box, and a warning symbol appears next to the corresponding patient's name and next to the applicable procedure. To include the procedure on a claim, you must first enter the treatment information.

      2. For the selected procedures, the associated diagnoses appear. You can have up to four ICD-10 codes per claim. If you have more than four, either remove ICD-10 codes from the claim (by clicking, or tapping, on the corresponding codes), or split the procedures between separate claims (clear the checkboxes of the procedures that you do not want on this claim, so you can create one or more additional claims for those procedures).

        Note: Removing ICD-10 codes from a claim does not affect the corresponding procedures. All diagnoses remain attached to their corresponding procedures as currently posted in the patient's ledger and progress notes.

        If there are two, three, or four ICD-10 codes, select the one that you want to be the primary diagnosis.

      3. Click (or tap) Create Claims.

        Procedures are grouped by Service Date, so you can create separate claims for each unique date of service.

    • Send Claims

      Send Claims tab

      Note: To reduce delays or non-payments from insurance carriers, Dentrix Ascend alerts you when, according to NEA guidelines, supporting documentation is recommended for any procedures on a claim. For a secondary (or tertiary or quaternary) insurance claim, a warning message includes a recommendation to attach the EOBs from the corresponding primary (and/or secondary and/or tertiary) claims before submitting the secondary (or tertiary or quaternary) claim.

      An orange warning icon appears in a claim's Att. column when claim attachments are recommended. To see the applicable procedures and recommended attachment types, click the warning icon. In the pop-up message that appears, you can click Add Attachment(s) to open the claim so you can add attachments.

      You can ignore a warning and submit the claim without the recommended attachments.

      Important: Ignore an attachment recommendation only if you are certain that the payer does not require supporting documentation for the procedure.

      1. Select the checkboxes of the claims that you want to send.

      2. Click (or tap) Send Selected Claims.

    • Payment

      Payment tab

      1. Type the Amount of the payment.

      2. Select a payment Type.

        The other payment options become available.

      3. Set up the payment details as needed.

      4. Click (or tap) Save Payment.

      5. Repeat steps a-d for any other payments that you need to post.

    • Statement

      Statement tab

      Notes:

      • For a printed statement, a guarantor must have a street address, city, state, and ZIP Code entered in his or her record. If this information is missing, Dentrix Ascend will warn you so you know to update the guarantor's information before generating the statement.

      • For an electronic statement, a guarantor must have mobile phone number or email address entered in his or her record. If this information is missing, Dentrix Ascend will warn you so you know to update the guarantor's information before generating the statement.

      1. Set up the following walkout statement options as needed:

        • Statement View

          • Guarantor View - Select this option to include transactions for the current patient, all patients who have the same guarantor as the current patient, and the guarantor (if not the current patient).

          • Patient View - Select this option to include transactions for the current patient. This option is not available if the patient is the guarantor for only himself or herself (the Guarantor View option will be used).

        • Statement Message - Type a message that you want to have appear at the bottom of the walkout. This message will be saved for the current patient (and appear on this patient's individual statements and walkouts from now on) when you click (or tap) Print Walkout Statement. In addition to this patient-specific message, a general message may also appear below at the bottom of the walkout (if a default message exists for batch statements).

          Note: Only the first 450 characters of the statement message can be transmitted with an electronic statement.

        • Include credit card payment options - Select this checkbox to have credit card payment options appear on the walkout.

        • Include location abbreviation - With this checkbox selected, the location abbreviation of the applicable rendering location (if an abbreviation has been set up for that location) appears next to each procedure on the statement.

        • Include due date as - Select this checkbox to have the specified date entered as the due date on the walkout.

          Note: You can choose a date that is 1 to 180 days in the future. However, industry consultants recommend that the due date be 30 days, which is the default.

      2. Do one of the following:

        • Print a statement for the patient, and optionally send an electronic statement (e-statement) to the patient:

          1. From the Actions button menu, point to (or tap) Print.

          2. To record a summary of the statement in the patient's connections history and save a copy of the statement in the patient's Document Manager, select the Add to Patient Connection checkbox. To not record the statement as a patient connection or save a copy of the statement, leave the checkbox clear.

          3. To send an electronic statement (e-statement) to the patient, in addition to printing the statement, select the Send eStatement checkbox. To not send an e-statement, leave the checkbox clear.

          4. Click (or tap) Print.

        • Use Dentrix Ascend's print-and-mail statement fulfillment service to print and mail a statement for the patient (terms, conditions, and fees apply), and optionally send an electronic statement (e-statement) to the patient:

          1. From the Actions button menu, point to (or tap) Print & mail for me.

            Note: This option is available only if your assigned user role has the "Send single Print & mail for me statement" right.

            Note: The Add to Patient Connection checkbox is always selected. A summary of the statement will be recorded in the patient's connections history and a copy of the statement will be saved in the patient's Document Manager.

          2. To send an electronic statement (e-statement) to the patient, in addition to having the statement printed and mailed for you, select the Send eStatement checkbox. To not send an e-statement, leave the checkbox clear.

          3. Click (or tap) Print & Mail.

            If you have not accepted the terms and conditions while logged in to the current location, the Pricing Details - Print & Mail for Me Option dialog box appears.

            Note: You do not have to accept the terms and conditions again for this location unless the terms and conditions change, such as if the pricing changes.

          4. To read the terms and conditions, click (or tap) the the terms & conditions link. The document opens on a new browser tab.

          5. To accept the terms and conditions, select the I have read and agree with the terms & conditions checkbox.

          6. Click (or tap) Print & Mail for Me.

          Note: The printed statement that the patient receives is a high-quality, full-color statement. The statement groups procedures into visits to make it easy to read. The format is not customizable.

        • Send an electronic statement (e-statement) to the patient:

          1. From the Actions button menu, point to (or tap) Send eStatement only.

          2. To record a summary of the statement in the patient's connections history and save a copy of the statement in the patient's Document Manager, select the Add to Patient Connection checkbox. To not record the statement as a patient connection or save a copy of the statement, leave the checkbox clear.

          3. Click (or tap) Send.

        If you chose to print the statement, a .pdf file of the walkout appears on a new browser tab so you can print it.

        Notes:

        • A balance forward amount will appear on the walkout for the account's balance up to today's date.

        • If the Add to Patient Connection checkbox was selected, the patient's "last billed date" is updated, which affects which statements get generated if you generate a batch of statements in the future using the Only generate statement if not billed since option.

        • If the Add to Patient Connection checkbox was selected, and if the Guarantor View option was selected, a patient connection is added to, a copy of the statement is copied to, and the "last billed date" is updated for not only the current patient but the patient's guarantor (if not the same) and all patients who have that guarantor.