Patient Credit Balances And Unclaimed Funds

Nov 12, 2015

An important customer service function for your Office Manager is to check to see if any patients have Credit Balances. This should be done on a regular basis. Having it as part of your month-end procedures is a good way to ensure it doesn’t get overlooked. Part of providing excellent customer service is returning a payment when due with an explanation of the refund. One of the easiest ways to determine these amounts is to run an aging report and look for all credit balances, especially those over 30 days.

The State of Ohio requires any patient refunds older than three years and not returned to the patient, be remitted to the State of Ohio with your annual Unclaimed Funds Return. November 1st of every year is the reporting date for many states, including Ohio; March 1st is the second most common due date. Section 169.11 of the Ohio Revised Code allows for the early reporting of unclaimed funds for businesses that wish to clear their accounts.

There is typically no minimum amount that must be reported and transferred, but unclaimed funds totaling less than $50 may be aggregated, as is permitted in Ohio. (ORC Sec.169.07 Holder of unclaimed funds held harmless.)

According to ORC Sec. 169.07(A), “Upon the payment of unclaimed funds to the director of commerce … the holder will be relieved of further responsibility for the safekeeping thereof and will be held harmless by the state from any and all liabilities for any claim arising out of the transfer of such funds to the state.”

Unclaimed Funds Audits have been hitting more and more medical and dental practices. Handling credit balances properly is just one way you can run a successful dental practice.

Categories: Healthcare & Dentistry