Assignment of Benefits Confusion
- Hersheydmd
- Posts: 705
- Joined: Sun May 03, 2009 9:12 pm
Assignment of Benefits Confusion
When creating a new claim, there is no field in the "Edit Claim" window showing whether the benefits are assigned to the doctor or the patient. In offices that either always accept the assignment or never accept the assignment that is not a problem - they can set it once and forget it. In offices where assignment of benefits is on a case by case basis it can create a great deal of confusion and wasted effort when the payment goes to the wrong party. It is not convenient or practical to expect the staff to open up the "Edit Insurance Plan" window every time they create a new claim just to see whether the assignment box is checked or not.
The simplest solution would be to have it function the same way as "Relationship". Just as the default "Relationship" is set in "Edit Insurance Plan" but it also shows in the "Edit Claim" window, likewise there should be a field showing the "AOB" in the "Edit Claim" window. Just as you can alter the "relationship" for that particular claim, without affecting the default value set for future claims, so you should be able to change the "AOB" for that particular claim.
The simplest solution would be to have it function the same way as "Relationship". Just as the default "Relationship" is set in "Edit Insurance Plan" but it also shows in the "Edit Claim" window, likewise there should be a field showing the "AOB" in the "Edit Claim" window. Just as you can alter the "relationship" for that particular claim, without affecting the default value set for future claims, so you should be able to change the "AOB" for that particular claim.
Last edited by Hersheydmd on Mon Apr 13, 2015 10:55 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Robert M Hersh DMD, FAGD
Univ. of Penn 1982
Brooklyn, NY 11234
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-M ... 1471599429
Univ. of Penn 1982
Brooklyn, NY 11234
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-M ... 1471599429
Re: Assignment of Benefits Confusion
Feature request #3294
The best thing about a boolean is even if you are wrong, you are only off by a bit.
Jason Salmon
Open Dental Software
http://www.opendental.com
Jason Salmon
Open Dental Software
http://www.opendental.com
- Hersheydmd
- Posts: 705
- Joined: Sun May 03, 2009 9:12 pm
Re: Assignment of Benefits Confusion
Anyone else find this very annoying? Vote for feature request 3294
Robert M Hersh DMD, FAGD
Univ. of Penn 1982
Brooklyn, NY 11234
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-M ... 1471599429
Univ. of Penn 1982
Brooklyn, NY 11234
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-M ... 1471599429
- Manny Ramirez
- Posts: 129
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- Location: Miami/Puerto Rico
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Re: Assignment of Benefits Confusion
.... and in the meantime make sure to keep "Assignment of Benefits (Pay Dentist)" just in case 

Manny Ramirez
Senior Network Engineer
E-ssential Networks LLC
Senior Network Engineer
E-ssential Networks LLC
- Hersheydmd
- Posts: 705
- Joined: Sun May 03, 2009 9:12 pm
Re: Assignment of Benefits Confusion
Manny,Manny Ramirez wrote:.... and in the meantime make sure to keep "Assignment of Benefits (Pay Dentist)" just in case
That is NOT a good solution. That is part of the problem. Don't want to constantly have to issue refund checks to patients who already paid us. It's a waste of someone's time and messes up our accounting. Truly a PITA.
Robert M Hersh DMD, FAGD
Univ. of Penn 1982
Brooklyn, NY 11234
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-M ... 1471599429
Univ. of Penn 1982
Brooklyn, NY 11234
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-M ... 1471599429
- Hersheydmd
- Posts: 705
- Joined: Sun May 03, 2009 9:12 pm
Re: Assignment of Benefits Confusion
This is continuing to bug me. Is anyone else finding this annoying? If you are, please vote on feature request #3294.
Make the assignment of benefits setting readily visible when creating a claim and in the family module. It is currently buried inside the Edit Insurance Plan window. This will greatly reduce the number of claims that are sent out with incorrectly assignment of benefits, which results in the insurance payment going to the wrong party.
Robert M Hersh DMD, FAGD
Univ. of Penn 1982
Brooklyn, NY 11234
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-M ... 1471599429
Univ. of Penn 1982
Brooklyn, NY 11234
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-M ... 1471599429
Re: Assignment of Benefits Confusion
HAD TO GO BACK TO PAPER
not my favorite solution 
Until that is fixed, the work around we use in our office:
we create a pop up message for those patients who need it : " Paper Claim - INS PAY PATIENT "
and in the Insurance Plan Information, we do not enter an Electronic ID or remove it if there is one , so an electronic claim is not created or submitted electronically.
Instead, we get a paper claim at the end of the day, and we hand correct the section about the assignment of benefits and we write " PAY PATIENT DIRECTLY"


Until that is fixed, the work around we use in our office:
we create a pop up message for those patients who need it : " Paper Claim - INS PAY PATIENT "
and in the Insurance Plan Information, we do not enter an Electronic ID or remove it if there is one , so an electronic claim is not created or submitted electronically.
Instead, we get a paper claim at the end of the day, and we hand correct the section about the assignment of benefits and we write " PAY PATIENT DIRECTLY"
- Hersheydmd
- Posts: 705
- Joined: Sun May 03, 2009 9:12 pm
Re: Assignment of Benefits Confusion
That is terrible. I would hate to have to go through that every day. Although, I also hate having to send patients refunds when the insurance company pays us after the patient already paid us.rhaber123 wrote:HAD TO GO BACK TO PAPERnot my favorite solution
Until that is fixed, the work around we use in our office:
we create a pop up message for those patients who need it : " Paper Claim - INS PAY PATIENT "
and in the Insurance Plan Information, we do not enter an Electronic ID or remove it if there is one , so an electronic claim is not created or submitted electronically.
Instead, we get a paper claim at the end of the day, and we hand correct the section about the assignment of benefits and we write " PAY PATIENT DIRECTLY"
I realize it is our fault for not unchecking the "assignment of benefits" box for that claim, but it is just too much to ask someone to remember to verify the status every time they create a new claim, and it is too much work to back out of the claim form, navigate to the Family module, then open the Edit Ins Plan window, just to verify or change the AOB status and then have to navigate back into the claim form. That is crazy extra work.
So add some votes to feature request 3294 and maybe we can get this fixed. There are so many places on the claim form where the AOB status could appear.
Robert M Hersh DMD, FAGD
Univ. of Penn 1982
Brooklyn, NY 11234
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-M ... 1471599429
Univ. of Penn 1982
Brooklyn, NY 11234
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-M ... 1471599429
- Hersheydmd
- Posts: 705
- Joined: Sun May 03, 2009 9:12 pm
Re: Assignment of Benefits Confusion
Don't understand how this happened.
Feature code 3294 had 101 votes and a weight of 19.02. I added 18 more votes bringing it to 119 votes and when it refreshed the weight went down to 17.64? What gives?
Feature code 3294 had 101 votes and a weight of 19.02. I added 18 more votes bringing it to 119 votes and when it refreshed the weight went down to 17.64? What gives?
Robert M Hersh DMD, FAGD
Univ. of Penn 1982
Brooklyn, NY 11234
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-M ... 1471599429
Univ. of Penn 1982
Brooklyn, NY 11234
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-M ... 1471599429
Re: Assignment of Benefits Confusion
Weight is calculated by considering the request system as a whole.
You added votes to a job, but more votes/critical votes were added to another job, giving it more weight.
You added votes to a job, but more votes/critical votes were added to another job, giving it more weight.