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We take deposits for various treatments to occur in the future.  The payment will go as unallocated or unexplained.  

 

How can we prevent a £100 deposit for e.g. EMS Airflow hygiene being deducted because an associate has charged something else e.g. Band 1 NHS £26.50 to the account thereby reducing the deposit to £73.20 and reception staff being none the wiser because they let the patient go as there is no longer a negative £-26.50 balance showing.

We have had many many instances where we cannot “reserve” and lock a deposit on the account for the actual treatment it was meant for, rather than it being deducted against something else the patient has done.  Patient then complains in future saying “I already paid £150 for my airflow hygiene” when they know full well that we didn’t charge them for their other treatments e.g. Band 1 NHS because it has netted off.

Hi ​@BCDC2023, right now when you take a deposit you can click the “explain” button next to the unexplained money and enter a note without selecting an invoice, this will reserve the money and prevent it from being automatically explained to future treatment that gets charged through.

The balance will still include that money, however, so the reception team will need to go and take a look at the account to see if there are unpaid invoices to be sure that there’s nothing for the patient to pay, and then check if there are reserved payments that should be applied to the invoices as the treatment the deposit was taken for has now occurred. We are actually working in this area though, so expect it to be a little easier in the coming few months!

Unfortunately this suggestion does not recognise the fact that it considerable work to explain a payment and then unexplain it at a later date to match off against an invoice that gets charged to the system by the dentist.  We used to this until it consumed too much time as we have some 60-70 patients a day when it’s busy and cannot keep doing that.

Hopefully a solution is in sight as this is not ideal.  There should a “deposit” option which the dentist can then apply an invoice to match off against the deposit at a later date.

Hopefully a solution is in sight as this is not ideal.  There should a “deposit” option which the dentist can then apply an invoice to match off against the deposit at a later date.

 

Watch this space ​@BCDC2023! Would you be up for having a call with us to see what we have in mind?

Yes, I would that would be great.  Thanks.

I find it better to use two custom treatment items:

  1. Non refundable deposit
  2. Deposit previously paid

with the second being a negative amount to match the first. The first gets charged on paying/booking, then the second  is charged on completing the treatment. Recording deposits this way has the benefits of including the deposit timings in the treatment plan, clear invoices, and allocation to the treating dentist. Maybe this would work for you too?

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