Outstanding balances and follow-ups
Identify unpaid invoices, schedule follow-up calls, and track payment plans.
Overview
Outstanding balance is the cleanest signal of who owes what. The follow-up tracker lets billing staff record call attempts, set callbacks, and convert promises into recorded payments.
Prerequisites
- Owner, Admin, or Billing Staff role
- At least one unpaid invoice in the system
Steps
Open Follow-ups. Top nav Billing → Follow-ups.
Read the list. Patients with outstanding balance, sorted by days overdue. Each row shows balance, oldest invoice date, last contact attempt.
Filter by aging buckets. 0-30, 31-60, 61-90, 90+. The 90+ bucket usually warrants special action — payment plans or write-off.
Click a patient row. A detail panel shows their invoices, the most recent payments, and contact history.
Record a call attempt. + Log attempt. Channel (phone, email, SMS, in-person), outcome (no answer, promised payment, dispute, hung up, refused). Free-text notes.
Schedule a callback. Schedule callback → date and time. Adds to your calendar; appears as a task on the dashboard.
Set up a payment plan. Convert to payment plan → enter installment amount, frequency (weekly/monthly), start date. The platform creates scheduled invoices.
Mark recovered. When paid, record the payment as usual; the follow-up auto-closes.
Write off uncollectible debt. Owner only. Write off → reason. The balance becomes zero with a write-off accounting entry.
Expected outcome
- Every outstanding patient has a clear status — last contact, next action
- Follow-up attempts feed billing reports for performance review
- Payment plans split debt into manageable chunks with auto-invoicing
- Write-offs are auditable
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Follow-up list empty despite obvious unpaid invoices | Filtered out | Check filter sliders and date range |
| Wrong aging bucket | Days computed from invoice date, not service date | This is correct — invoice age is the metric |
| Payment plan didn't auto-invoice | Cron not run yet | Auto-invoicing runs daily at 3 AM clinic time; manually trigger via the plan detail |
| Patient promised cash but didn't pay | Mark Outcome: No payment despite promise for trail | Patterns inform future trust |
| Write off blocked | Role limited | Owner only; ask for delegated permission |