Adding External Collection Distributions

Complete this task to add distributions for an external collection payment. This task is a continuation of the Applying External Collections Payments task and begins at the Add Distribution window.

The following rules apply to external collection distributions:

The commission amount is required. If you are not collecting a commission, zeros will auto-populate after both the Gross and Net Payment fields have been filled.
The gross payment amount cannot exceed the external collection transaction balance (Ext Coll Trans Balance).
The net payment + commission amounts cannot exceed the gross payment amount.
The distribution amounts (gross payment, net payment and commission) must balance.

Check the Show Zero Balances option to display external collection transactions that have a zero balance.

Check the Show All Agencies option to display all external collection items (and the agencies assigned to those items) not related to the current check/distribution.

Step-By-Step Guide

Step	Instructions	Additional Information
1	From the Add Distribution window of an external collections payment, search or enter the Account number to which you are applying the external collection payment.	Finding Accounts Click for the Account. The Search Criteria window opens. Do one of the following: To find all accounts, click OK. To find accounts by one or more of the following filter options, enter the search criteria, and then click OK: Account ID Date of Service Check Number Claim ID Pre-Collection Account ID Case ID Facility Case ID External Case ID To search by Practice, open the drop down list and select the practice associated with the account. To filter search results by account flags, select the checkboxes of any of the following options: Hold Statements Suspend Pre-Collection Returned Mail Suspense Guarantor Collections Suspense Insurance Collections To find specific accounts by guarantor, specify one or more of the following filter options, then click OK: Type Guarantor DOB SSN/EIN Phone To find specific accounts by patient, specify one or more of the following filter options, then click OK: Patient DOB SSN When the search is completed, the accounts matching the search criteria are listed on the Find Account window. Use one or more of the filtering controls to find a specific account in the account set: Guarantor Name SSN/EIN Phone As you enter information in the filter, the accounts list shows only the accounts that match the filter. Clear the filter to display all accounts in the account set. Select the Show Patient Information checkbox to hide or show patient information for each guarantor account. Click the account to which you are applying the service line distribution or on-account line item, then click OK. The account number of the account you selected appears in the Account field.
2	Do one of the following: To automatically distribute the remaining amount for distribution to all eligible external collection transactions: Click Auto Fill. The Auto Fill Amounts window opens. Enter the amounts for Commission Total and either Gross Payment Total or the Net Payment Total. You cannot enter a gross payment that is more than the external collection transaction balance. Click OK. Amounts are distributed to the first external collection transaction in the list, and then to any subsequent external collection transactions (line by line) until the designated amounts are fully distributed. Commissions are distributed by a calculated percentage based on the gross payment total and the commission total amounts (commission total/gross payment total = commission percentage) and then applied to each external collection transaction. The distribution amounts appear in the applicable columns of the external collection transaction to which the distribution is being applied: Gross Payment, Net Payment and Commission. You can change these amounts by typing the new value in the appropriate cell. To recalculate, press [Tab] in one or more of these cells. The gross payment cannot exceed the external collection transaction balance. To manually distribute the remaining amount for distribution to each external collection transaction: Enter a value in the Commission field and either the Gross Payment or Net Payment field. The gross payment or net payment is calculated based on the values you enter. The gross payment cannot exceed the external collection transaction balance. Repeat for each external collection transaction to distribute on the same guarantor account, if applicable.
3	To clear entered values from any of the Auto fill Amounts fields, select the external collection transaction line, and then click Clear Line.
4	Add an adjustment to the payment line, if applicable.	Click in the Adjustment field to open the Adjustment window to specify the purpose and the amount of the miscellaneous adjustment. The Purpose identifies the type of adjustment that is being applied to the service line distribution (positive or negative). Based on the transaction code that you select, the account is adjusted accordingly and recorded in Active AR. The adjustment Amount being applied on the service line distribution. This amount will be recorded as either the MADJN (negative) or MADJP (positive) activity code in active AR based on the purpose of the adjustment.
5	Link or unlink an image to the distribution, if applicable.
6	When you are finished entering the distribution for the external collection transaction, do one of the following: To save the distribution and apply a payment on another account, click Save & Add Next (or press Alt + V). Repeat all steps in this task for each external collection transaction that applies to the external collection payment. To save the distribution without adding another distribution, click Save (or press Alt + S). All distributions will be added to the Payment: New or Payment: [ID] page.