A payment may be incorrectly synced to another family member due to remaining balances tied to inactive providers in the office’s Dentrix or Open Dental (OD) systems. This issue arises when either system allows providers to be inactivated while leaving pending balances open. Additionally, when a payment is made, the system applies it to the oldest balance in the ledger, which may belong to a family member other than the guarantor.
Root Cause:
Both Dentrix and Open Dental allow providers to be inactivated without requiring the closure of all pending balances. If an inactive provider has an outstanding balance, the payment can mistakenly be applied to the oldest balance in the ledger, which might be associated with another family member. This leads to the payment being synced incorrectly to that individual.
How This Happens:
Oldest Balance Application: When a payment is made, the system looks for the oldest balance in the ledger. If this balance belongs to someone other than the guarantor (such as another family member), the payment will be saved under their account.
Inactive Provider Balances: Inactive providers may still have unresolved balances, and the system doesn’t distinguish these when applying payments. This behavior leads to confusion when payments are synced.
Steps to Resolve:
Contact Dentrix or Open Dental Support: Offices should contact the respective support teams (Dentrix or OD) to help close out any old balances associated with inactive providers. This step will prevent further incorrect payment syncing.
Run the Provider A/R Report: To identify inactive providers with remaining balances, run the Provider A/R report within Dentrix or Open Dental. This report will show unpaid balances tied to inactive providers, helping the office take corrective action.
Reallocate Credits in the Practice Management System (PMS): If a payment has already been applied to the wrong family member due to the oldest balance rule, you may need to manually reallocate the credit in your PMS. This step ensures that the payment is correctly attributed to the guarantor or the appropriate family member.
Example: Below is a screenshot showcasing an example of how this issue appears when an inactive provider has remaining balances.
