Dentrix Ascend uses line-item accounting, which means that when a credit—such as a payment or credit adjustment—is entered, you need to post it against a debit transaction, such as a procedure or service rendered. In some cases, when a payment is made, there is no procedure to apply it to. For example, a patient makes a payment for a procedure that you have not yet posted, or a payment is made for more than the cost of the procedure. In these cases, you can still enter the payment; however, this labels the payment as an “unapplied credit.” It’s important to note that if your office compensates providers based on collections, you need to apply these credits before the providers can receive payment.
Watch this video to learn how to apply an unapplied credit. (Duration: 1:18)
Additional Information
- If an insurance payment is pending, and there is a balance owed on a patient’s account, there may be an unapplied credit because the amount paid by the patient exceeded his or her portion of the bill. Once the insurance payment is applied to the bill, you will also be able to apply the unapplied credit to the bill.
- Unapplied credits can be managed from the Aged Receivables report.
- Unapplied credits should be applied promptly, especially if the office is paying a provider on collection because the provider doesn’t receive credit for the payment until it’s applied to the collection.
- To learn more, read Applying unapplied credits.