How to Handle Family Relationship Changes in ABELDent Financials
Summary:
Financial accounts are created in ABELDent by selecting one individual in a family to be the Account Holder.
- An Account Holder is the person who is financially responsible for the account.
- Generally, all patients in a family are joined into one account , so that only one account statement is issued for the entire family. The name of the patient chosen as the account holder prints on the account statements. Typically, either Mom or Dad are selected as the account holder.
- A patient becomes the Account Holder when the Account Holder box is checked in the Status section of the Personal tab.
Important: Do not confuse Householder with Account Holder. The Householder is used for address purposes only. Also, the Account Holder, Householder and Insurance Subscriber DO NOT need to be the same person.
Steps:
Scenario 1: Child Leaves Account
In this scenario, you need to transfer a child out of the family account because they are now responsible for their own financial account.
1. Open the child’s Patient record and click Edit.
2. In the Status section, click the Account Holder box to insert a check mark.
3. The Transferring an Account dialog box appears
4. Read all of the information on the dialog box before transferring the child’s account. Especially note that all previous financials will remain with the original Account Holder.
5. Click OK and then Save on the Personal Tab.
6. Once you exit the patient’s record and return, the following will have occurred:
- A new financial account is created for the child. Their Financial tab is empty, however, as all previous financial entries stay with the original Account Holder.
- The child's Treatment tab shows all previous treatment history.
Scenario 2: Separating Accounts
In this scenario, the account holder is Dad, and the family members are the Mother and two children. The parents have decided to separate and you will need to transfer the mother out of the account because they’ve decided to have separate accounts.
1. Transfer the mother from the family account to her own account. Use the steps shown in “Scenario 1: Child Leaves Account”.
If the children are to be transferred out to the Mothers account, they must be pointed to their new account holder. Ensure the Mother has been transferred to her own account first.
2. To make the necessary changes in the children’s record:
a. Open the child’s patient record and click the Edit button.
b. In the Status section, click the browse button to select the name and PID of their new Account Holder (the mother).
3. Read the message and click OK.
The Mother’s name now appears as the Account Holder
4. Repeat the above steps for the second child.
5. Click Save on the Personal tab.
Being the original account holder, the father retains all the financial history. The mother and children start with fresh financial accounts, but their treatment history remains in their Treatment tabs.
In some situations, the father may also want the mother ’s outstanding balance removed from his account and placed into her account. This can be done using Payment Adjustments. The mother ’s outstanding fees can be adjusted off the father ’s account (enter fee adjustments as a negative ʺ‐ʺ) charged to her account (enter fee adjustment as a positive number).
Scenario 3: Merging Accounts
In this scenario, two patients who are each Account Holders, want to combine their separate accounts into one account.
1. Decide who will be the Account Holder.
2. Open the record of the patient who WILL NOT be the Account Holder.
3. Click the Edit button
4. In the Status section, click the browse button to select the name and PID of the new Account Holder.
5. Read all of the information on the dialog box before merging the accounts
6. Click OK.
7. Click Save on the Personal tab to merge both accounts into one.
Product (s): ABELDent
Category: Patient Record
Classification: Public
Date Created: 03 July 2015
Created by: Brian Neale