Open a client and go to the Billing tab. It holds everything about how this client pays, separate from the Payments tab where money actually moves.
The balance strip
Across the top: the balance, unpaid charges, and the last payment, with two actions:
- Collect payment — take a payment now (card, cash, check, insurance) or send a request; see Take patient payments.
- Adjust balance — record a write-off, discount, courtesy, insurance adjustment, or correction with a required reason. Each one is a row in the adjustments ledger, counts as settled on the charge it is tied to, and shows in the financial reports. A negative correction adds an amount back.
When there is a balance and no card on file, an amber nudge offers Request card.
The Billing profile card
Click Edit to open the profile. Sections:
| Section | Fields |
|---|---|
| Billing type | Self-pay, Insurance, or Sliding scale. |
| Rates | Client rates per service with effective and end dates and a note, and a default rate for everything. See Set client fees and rates. |
| Insurance amounts | Copay, coinsurance %, deductible, and how much of it is met. The payer, plan, member and group IDs, and verification status live on the Insurance card of the Overview tab and are edited in the client form. Nothing is billed to insurance from here. |
| Autopay | Add card or Replace card (needs Stripe connected), Remove, and the autopay switch for this client, available once a card is saved. See Card on file and autopay. A decline shows here until the card is replaced, and a warning appears if the location's autopay switch is off. |
| Statements | Superbill: on request or every month. Statement: on request or every month. Deliver via email or the portal. |
| Cancellation fees | Exempt this client from late-cancellation and no-show fees, with a note. See Cancellation and no-show fees. |
| Billing notes | Internal notes; never shown to the client. |
The card summarises all of it: type, default rate, copay, autopay state, client rates, statement preferences, and the last autopay failure if any.
Guarantor
The Guarantor card records the responsible party for a minor or dependant: name, relationship, phone, email, and address. Superbills name the guarantor as the person reimbursement goes to. The same fields are on the client form.
Charges and superbills
Below the profile, a toolbar with a date range, Add charge, and New ▾ (Superbill or Invoice) sits above the client's charges and their issued superbills; see Charges and the Billing tab and Create and send superbills.
Good to know
- The Billing tab does not need Stripe. Only saving a card and taking card payments do; the Payments tab itself appears once the location takes payments through Stripe.
- Practices connected to athenahealth keep their read-only insurance tab and athena's billing instead of this profile.
- Rate changes, card changes, and exemptions are written to the audit trail.