📝 How to Write Off Patient Responsibility – Athelas

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Clarification: Write-off vs. Cancellation This guide describes how to write off patient responsibility, which is a distinct concept from cancelling PR. Here’s the difference: 📝 Write Off PR: This is your practice determining that — while PR may technically be due — your practice is not going to collect it. For example a patient who is unable to pay, and it’s not worth your staff’s time to pursue the bad debt. All PR can be written off. ❌ Cancel PR: This is your practice saying that the PR is incorrect, that it should never have existed in the first place, and for that reason you are erasing it. There are some restrictions on what types of PR can be cancelled. To learn about those, please read the help guide: How to cancel patient responsibility.

1. Navigate to the Patient’s Profile

The Speedy Way

From any page in your Athelas Insights interface, press Cmd + K on a Mac, or Ctrl + K for PC users. This will bring up a universal search box.

Simply start typing a patient’s name and select their Patient Profile link, like so:

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Pro tip: Cmd + K (or Ctrl + K, for PC users) can search for anything in Athelas — specific appointments, payment plans, claims, you name it. Use it well and often.

The Classic Way

Navigate to the Patient Responsibility tab. Click into the ‘Patient’ search field and enter the name of the patient.

Click the patient name where it appears in the list to enter the patient’s account.

This will take you to the patient’s full profile, where you can adjust all their configurations and balances.

2. View the Charge

Under the Charges tab, find the row you want to write off and click ‘View Details’.

3. Write Off Patient Responsibility

Click the Write Off button.

This will open the write off patient responsibility window. Enter the portion of the total PR you would like to write off — it can be as much of as little as you like.

Document the reason you are performing this write-off. The dropdown comes pre-filled with a standardized selection of write-off reasons, however you also have the option to specify a custom reason if you prefer.

Then click the ‘Confirm’ button to finalize your write-off.

4. Write Off Complete!

The PR you wrote off will now be listed in the charges view, and the patient’s outstanding balance will be updated across Athelas Insights to reflect your action.

Nice work!

Troubleshooting

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Help! It won’t let me do a write-off! If the PR you’re trying to cancel has a disabled ‘Write Off’ button, hover your mouse over the button to get a tooltip that will explain what the issue is. Most often the PR has already been paid, and the payment will need to be refunded before the PR can be written-off. See guide on How to refund a payment.

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Oops… what should I do if I wrote-off something that I shouldn’t have? Never fear, all write-offs are 100% reversible! If you’ve still got the write-off in front of you: - Click the ‘Write Off’ button again to open the write off controls. - Then click the red ‘Remove Write Off’ button and you’re all set.

If you’re starting from scratch, head over the the help guide: How to undo a write-off.

🛠️ Other Resources

To learn how to write off a balance with the Posting Tool, first read this guide on Posting, and then check out this guide on Posting Tools. It’ll be worth it, understanding Posting in Insights will significantly enhance your ability to rake in payments for your practice.

📢 Further Assistance

We’re here to help! Please get in touch with your account manager for some hands-on assistance.