Summary
There may be situations where you need to increase or decrease a patient’s or responsible party's Due Now or Future Due balance. This can be completed through a balance adjustment. In Cloud 9, balance adjustments are displayed as follows: when a payment or reduction in balance is made, it appears as a negative number (e.g., -$200.00), which the system then converts to ($200.00), and this is expected behavior. Conversely, when a balance is added or a charge is applied, it will be displayed as a positive number (e.g., $200.00). It’s important to remember that negative numbers indicate a payment or a reduction in balance, while positive numbers represent an addition to the balance or a charge. In this article I will review a several different scenarios and how to accomplish them with a balance adjustment.
Adding to the Due Now with a Balance Adjustment
For this first scenario, the patient had a paid in full discount of $285.00 added at the time of the contract start, but they have instead decided to pay it off in a few installments. I want to add the $285.00 to the Responsible Party's Due Now balance, as they are making a payment in office later today. The steps to accomplish this are:
1. Click the Balance Adjustment Icon in the upper right corner of the ledger screen from the ledger tab you wish to add the balance to.
2. Make sure that the 'Adjustment Type' drop down is set to Balance Adjustment.
3. Add positive $285.00 to the 'Due Now Adjustment' box.
4. Add your comment for the adjustment and click the green save button.
The adjustment should look like this:
Removing/Reducing Due Now with a Balance Adjustment
In this second situation, we have someone who will not be needing part of the treatment fee, but the practice just wants to reduce the balance, not write it off. It is important to note that for a write off the process is a little different. (For information on how to write off a balance please see the links at the end of this article.) For this patient, we need to remove $500.00 of the balance from the due now with a balance adjustment. The steps to accomplish this are:
1. Click the Balance Adjustment Icon in the upper right corner of the ledger screen from the ledger tab you wish to remove balance from.
2. Make sure that the 'Adjustment Type' drop down is set to Balance Adjustment.
3. Add negative -$500 or ($500.00) to the 'Due Now Adjustment' box.
4. Add your comment for the adjustment and click the green save button.
The adjustment should look like this:
Contract Adjustments
There may be instances when you need to use a balance adjustment to modify the Future Due balance, which can be done under the 'Contract Adjustment' box. It's important to remember that Contract Adjustments will always appear as a 'Contract Adjustment' type in Cloud 9 reporting and the ledger tab. Simply applying a balance adjustment under the 'Contract Adjustment' box without moving the balance to Due Now may result in inaccurate reporting. Therefore, if you plan to write off a balance or write it off and then issue a refund, you should first transfer the balance from the Future Due to the Due Now. Always ensure that, when making a balance adjustment under the 'Contract Adjustment' line, you are aware that it will be reflected as a contract adjustment in the reporting and on the patient's ledger.
What to do if the Contract Adjustment Box is Grayed Out
Occasionally, you will run across an instance when the 'Contract Adjustment' box is greyed out and you cannot type a number in it. When this happens, it is usually due to the patient having multiple contracts. It will look like this when you open the Balance Adjustment dialogue box.
To fix this, simply click on the magnifying glass to the right of the contract field that will allow you to select the appropriate contract in the balance adjustment dialogue box, shown in the screenshot below.
This will bring up the list of contracts. Select the correct one and click the blue 'Select' button to continue. (Note: If no contracts appear when you click the magnifying glass, the patient does not have a contract and may need one entered.)
Once you do this, the 'Contract Adjustment' box within the balance adjustment dialogue box will now be white and you will be able to type a number in it to enter the contract adjustment.
Adding Future Due Balance with a Contract Adjustment
For this patient, we need to add another $600.00 to the contract that was not added when the contract started. We can accomplish this with a contract adjustment. The steps for this are:
1. Click the Balance Adjustment Icon in the upper right corner of the ledger screen from the ledger tab you wish to add Future Due balance to.
2. Make sure that the 'Adjustment Type' drop down is set to Balance Adjustment.
3. Add positive $600.00 to the 'Contract Adjustment' box.
4. Add your comment for the adjustment and click the green save button.
The adjustment should look like this:
After clicking the green save button, a dialogue box will appear, notifying you that changes have been made to the contract. This prompt serves as a reminder to review and edit any dates or charge amounts that may have been affected by the adjustment. To proceed, click 'OK' to open the contract selection screen, choose the appropriate contract, and click 'Edit' to review and update any changes to dates or charges, ensuring the contract is accurate and up to date.
Once you have made any necessary edits in the Contract screen, remember to click the green save button to save your changes.
Removing/Reducing Future Due Balance with a Contract Adjustment
For this next example, we need to remove $400.00 from the contract with a contract adjustment.
The steps for this are:
1. Click the Balance Adjustment Icon in the upper right corner of the ledger screen from the ledger tab you wish to remove Future Due balance from.
2. Make sure that the 'Adjustment Type' drop down is set to Balance Adjustment.
3. Add negative -$400.00 or ($400.00) to the 'Contract Adjustment' box.
4. Add your comment for the adjustment and click the green save button.
The adjustment should look like this:
Next, click okay on the pop up and make any changes to the contract needed after applying the contract adjustment.
What do do if there is a credit in the Due Now that should be applied to the Contract or Future Due Balance
You may run into a scenario where a responsible party or insurance overpaid, or paid for a charge that has not hit the ledger yet. You can wait for the charge date for it to appear on the ledger or you can move the credit balance with a balance adjustment. In this scenario, the ledger may look like this:
As you can see, the Future Due is $1650.00, but there is a credit of -$1090.00 that has not yet been applied to the Future Due. We know the true ledger balance is $560.00, but we want the ledger to reflect this. To fix this, please see this article: Moving Money from Due now to Future Due or Future Due to Due Now.
The examples above are the most common types of balance adjustments you will need to apply. You may run into other balance adjustment scenarios so please see these additional articles if needed.
-If you need to write off a Due Now Balance, please see this article: Writing off a Due Now Balance.
-If you find that you need to transfer balance from one patient to another, or one ledger tab to another on the same patient please see this article: Transfer Balance Adjustment.
-If you need to post a refund adjustment please see this article: Posting Refunds in Cloud 9.
-If you need to correct a balance or charge, please see this article: Corrections in Cloud 9.
- If you need to refund a card payment and remove from the ledger please see this article: Void/Return Corrections and How to Use Them.
As always, if you have any further questions please do not hesitate to reach out to Cloud 9 Support by emailing us at cloud9support@planetdds.com, or chatting us online using the chat bubble on the lower right at https://cloud9support.planetdds.com/hc/en-us, or giving us a call during our business hours of 8:00 AM EST to 8:00 PM EST at the 1.800.394.6050 option 2.