Handling Co-Pays

This article explains how to handle co-pay amounts for subsidized families and how to transfer an amount owed from an agency to the family.

Post Co-pay Fees before Agency Payment is Received

Purpose:

• To charge parents ahead of time for the amount of their co-payment.
• Optional: If you charge the agency with the co-pay amount included in the charge you’ll give the agency a credit (for the amount paid by the family) at the time the agency payment is received. To allow for this create a new Credit Description called “Co-pay Credit” (or something similar) then add it to your list of Agency Adjustment Codes with an Adjust Code like “Parent CoPay Pd”.

Set up & process co-pays:

1. Set up recurring fees for family co-pays and the agency share in the Child Billing Box based on the Agency Billing Examples.
2. Use Automated Billing to post the recurring fees to the family and agency.
3. Post payments received from the family to the Ledger Card of the Primary Payer (parent). See video above.
4. Later, when you receive the agency check, use Agency Payment Posting to record the payment and, if needed, use an Adjustment (like “Parent CoPay Pd”) to credit back to the agency the amount paid by the family (image below). In most cases the check would include many families with a payment and adjustment for each one.

Transfer Amount to Parent after Agency Payment is Received

Purpose: To transfer an amount owed from the responsibility of the agency back to the family.

Explanation: This will simultaneously credit the Agency Ledger and transfer the amount to the Ledger Card of the Primary Payer (parent). For example, the family may no longer be qualified to receive benefits, or they may simply owe any amount (or partial amount) not paid by the agency.

Transfer Amount: When you receive the agency check you’ll use the Agency Payment Posting feature to record the payment and make an Adjustment (like “Parent Transfer”) to charge the family and credit the agency (image below). In most cases the check would include many families. Some may require an adjustment while others may not.