Finding the information you need on the Insurance Aging Report

Updated 7/18/2019

Unless you are looking at an individual patient's Ledger, there is no way of knowing whether an insurance claim has been paid, or if there is something delaying the payment. By running the Insurance Claim Aging Report on a regular basis, you can keep an eye on unpaid claims and identify which may need to be followed up on. This report contains a lot of useful information, but can be overwhelming to look at. Below is a sample report that identifies the information you should be looking for:

The Insurance Claim Aging Report consists of the following information:

1. Aged Balances - The claim balance is displayed in aging brackets.
2. Service - The service date (the date of the procedure) is pulled from the Primary (or Secondary) Insurance Claim dialog box which can be accessed by double-clicking a claim in the Ledger. The service date is automatically entered when a claim is posted.
3. Dates associated with the claim - If you have entered dates in the Insurance Claim Status dialog box, the corresponding dates appear on the report (seen in pink in the image):
• Sent - The date the claim was sent. If you send a claim electronically, the Sent date is automatically entered in the Insurance Claim Status dialog box.
• Tracer - The date the tracer was sent (if any)
• On Hold - Indicates the date the claim was placed on hold (if any)
• Re-Sent - The date the claim was re-sent to the insurance carrier (if applicable). If you re-send a claim electronically, the Re-Sent date is automatically entered in the Insurance Claim Status dialog box.
4. ID Number - This is a unique number that Dentrix assigns to the claim. This number is not the same number the insurance carrier assigns to the claim.
5. Claim Status Notes - If you select Print Status Note when setting options for this report, claim status notes entered in the Insurance Claim Status dialog box appear on the report.

Once you better understand how to interpret the information on the report, it becomes more useful to you.

For more information on how to generate this report, see the Insurance Aging Report topic in the Dentrix Help, or read the Understanding the Insurance Claims Aging Report post in this blog.

Locating Patients Who Need a Specific Type of Continuing Care Treatment

Updated 4/27/2020

The Dentrix Continuing Care module gives you the ability to see patient continuing care information in a variety of different ways. Not only can you create and save customizable views that show you specific lists of patients who are due for continuing care, but you can also use the interactive list to contact patients and schedule their appointment.

The Continuing Care Views Setup dialog box allows you to create customized lists of patients, based on filtering criteria you set. For example, you can create a list of patients who are overdue for periodontal maintenance so you can get them scheduled before their condition gets worse.

To find patients overdue for perio maintenance:

1. From the Appointment Book, click the Continuing Care button.
2. Select Views, and then click Continuing Care Views Setup.
3. Click New to add a continuing care view.
4. In the View Name field, enter a name for the view, such as Perio Past Due.





5. Set up the filters:
1. Type - Select PERIO from the continuing care type drop-down list.
• Select With CC to view patients who have an assigned due date for the selected continuing care type.
2. Status - Select a status from the drop-down list or select <ALL> to include all statuses.
3. Sched Appt? - To view only patients without an attached appointment, select Only WITHOUT.
4. Due Date - To generate a list for a specific range, select Use Due Date Range. Enter the date range you want to see, for example, the last six months.
6. Click OK to save the view.

To generate the list using the view you just created, select it from the View menu.

Use the information within the list to contact the patient by phone to schedule an appointment, and double-click a name in the list to open the Appointment Information dialog box you can use for scheduling.

For additional information read the Changing the View Start Date for Continuing Care Lists blog post, or the Continuing Care List View Options topic in Dentrix Help.

Understanding the Continuing Care Module

Updated 7/18/2019

It's important to keep your hygiene schedule full. Regular cleanings and oral cancer screenings promote a healthy mouth for patients, and much of the doctor's production is diagnosed during hygiene visits. Because of this, it is important to know which of your patients are due (or overdue) for these routine hygiene visits.

The Continuing Care module provides a way to monitor your patients' due dates for individual recall reasons, such as when they are due for a prophy or bitewings. The Continuing Care module displays a list of the information you need to contact a patient concerning their continuing care including due dates, whether they have an appointment scheduled, and the last time they were seen for their continuing care reason.

To access the Continuing Care module, from the Appointment Book, click the Continuing Care button.

Dentrix loads the module based on the Continuing Care View (filter settings) used the last time the module was opened. Patient information that matches the filters is displayed in the module window:

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1. The Due Date Span indicates the date range showing in the current view. (In the example above, the list is showing patients with continuing care due between September 10 and December 11.)
2. The View Name displays to remind you which set of pre-defined view filters you have selected.
3. The Date column indicates the patient's continuing care due date.
4. The Type column indicates the continuing care type they are due for.
5. The Appt? column indicates the date (if any) of a scheduled appointment for the continuing care type. A plus "+" sign in this column indicates that the patient has a scheduled appointment for something other than the indicated continuing care type.
6. The Status column indicates the last contact the office had with the patient.
7. The Prior Treat. column indicates the date the patient was last seen for the continuing care reason.
8. The Name column lists the patient's name. An asterisk "*" next to a name indicates the head-of-household for a family.
9. The Age column indicates the patient's age.
10. The Prov. column indicates the patient's assigned continuing care provider.
11. The Phone column indicates the patient's home phone number.

Once you understand how to interpret the information on this list, you can begin to use it more effectively to contact patients and schedule them for overdue hygiene appointments.

For additional information, read the Don’t Let Patients Fall through Cracks in Your Hygiene Program article in the Dentrix Magazine online archive.

New Features in the Dentrix G6 Document Center

Updated 7/18/2019

Dentrix G6 includes new features and enhancements to the Document Center that make it easier for you to store and organize your important documents.

One new feature is the ability to rename Document Types even when those types contain documents that have been signed.
Note: You cannot delete a document type if there are signed documents attached to that type, but you can rename it.

To rename a document type:

1. From the Document Center, click Setup > Document Types.





2. Select the document type you want to rename.
3. Click Change. A text box will appear around the description of the document type.
4. Rename the document type and then click Close.
5. Click Yes to the confirmation message that appears.

Another new feature in the Dentrix G6 Document Center is the ability to sort documents in the Unfiled Documents folder either by the date they were scanned or by the time they were scanned/printed to the Document Center. This makes it easier to find documents if you know the time of day or the date you scanned it.

To sort the documents in the Unfiled Documents window:

1. From the Document Center, click the Unfiled Documents button.





2. Click either the Date or Time column header to sort the documents.
3. Select a document from the list and edit the Document Information and attach the document to a patient as needed.

Bonus Tip: With Dentrix G6, when you have more than 40 files in the Unfiled Documents folder, you receive a pop-up message when you open the Document Center letting you know you have a number of unfiled documents.

For more information, read the Renaming Document Types topic in Dentrix Help.

Determining the Last Time a Patient Received a Billing Statement

Updated 7/18/2019

Did you know Dentrix keeps track of the last time you billed a patient and lists that information for you in the Ledger and the Office Journal?

In the Ledger, the Last Statement Date field reflects the last time the selected patient was sent a billing statement. Each time you print a billing statement for a patient or send a statement electronically, the Last Statement Date field is updated.

Note: The Last Statement Date field is NOT updated if you generate a billing statement and send it to the Batch Processor. The date is only updated after you print the statement or send it electronically. This is true both of statements generated from the Office Manager and individual statements generated from the Ledger.

You can also view the last statement date in the Office Journal, which gives you the advantage of seeing the amount billed in addition to the statement date. To view the date the last billing statement was sent, open the Office Journal and select the appropriate patient. Look through the recent Journal entries to find the last billing statement, or from the Office Journal menu select View > Filters > Billing Statements to limit the display only to billing statements. Click the most recent billing statement journal entry to view the statement date and amount billed.

For additional information about billing statements, read Billing Statements Made Easier in the Dentrix Magazine online archive.