Period Close

The Period Close feature facilitates more accurate revenue and accounts receivable reporting by preventing financial transactions from being posted to past periods. 

User Permissions

To edit Period Close settings, a Managing Organization Admin will need to be designated a Financial Admin within their User Profile.

Note: Other Managing Organization Admins, Managing Organization Users, and Organization Admins can still view Period Close settings but cannot edit the settings. 

1. To update these permissions, navigate to the Managing Organization Admin > Users section of the system.
2. Select the Name of the Managing Organization Admin you'd like to be designated a Financial Admin.
3. Open the Permissions tab and click Edit.
   
4. Toggle on the Financial Admin setting and click Save.
5. Have the User log out and back in to see the permission change.

Editing Period Close Settings

Only a Managing Organization Admin designated as a Financial Admin can manage Period Close settings including closing and opening periods. 

1. Once period close is enabled, navigate to Organization Admin and open the Configuration tab.
2. Open the Account Settings section and click Edit.
3. The period close settings are under the Accounting section. 
4. Accounting Method: Users can choose between Accrual and Cash for the Accounting Method setting to enable different back-dating limitations for their account users.
   

• Accrual
  • Payments are recognized and reported on by Post Date
  • Period Close prevents anyone from back-dating a Post Date
  • Period Close allows anyone to back-date a Deposit Date
• Cash
  • Payments are recognized and reported on by Deposit Date
  • Period Close prevents anyone from back-dating a Deposit Date
  • Period Close allows anyone to back-date a Post Date

Fiscal Start: Select the start of your fiscal year from this drop-down. This setting will be used in a future enhancement to customize default date ranges in your A/R reports like fiscal year, fiscal year to date, etc.

Year: Select the Year to display the individual periods that can be opened or closed.

• Note: You can close and open periods from January 2021 to current. All periods before that will be automatically locked once this feature is enabled. 

Period: Each period for the selected year is listed with the period name, date range, and status toggle.

• To close a period, toggle the Status to Closed. When this toggle is on and a date is selected, certain actions become unavailable within the system on or before the period close date. See below for more information.
• To open a period, toggle the Status to Open. By default, all periods are Open. 

Ongoing Updates: Managing Org Admins will need to update the Status toggle to Closed for each newly closed period. 

Period Close Restrictions

Once a period is closed, the following actions cannot be completed in the system:

• Add new charges in Attendance for the date range of the closed period
• Create insurance payment collections with a post date in the closed period
• Edit insurance payment collections to backdate post date to dates within the closed period
• Edit claim payments with post dates in a closed period
• Record cash or check patient payments with a post date within the closed period

Adding Charges

• Attendance Calendar: Users cannot add new charges to the Attendance Calendar within a closed period. When attempting to add a charge within the closed period, the following error message will display.
  • Users can still unsubmit existing services to edit or delete the services. 
  • Kipu Integrated: Users integrated with the Kipu EMR will be prevented from submitting treatments added through the integration with a date of service within a closed service. 
• Record Service: On the Patients page, users will be prevented from adding a service with a treatment date within a closed period.

Editing Payments

Payments and Adjustments with post dates within a closed period cannot be edited. The Edit button on the Details page will no longer be available.

Patient Payments

For organizations using Patient Billing, period close will impact the collection of patient payments. When collecting a Cash, Check, or Money Order payment from the Patient > Patient Billing > Collect Payment window, a date field is now required. You cannot backdate the payment date to a date within a closed period. 

Making Updates After Period Close

If you need to make updates within the closed period, we recommend only opening the period that needs to be updated by changing the Status toggle for that specific month to Open.

Managing Org Admins can update the Period under Organization Admin > Configuration > Settings.

You will be able to view any changes made to a previously closed period with the upcoming Exceptions report.

Reporting

The Exception to Closing Date Report allows you to see any changes that occurred after a period was closed. This includes when a prior period was unlocked, services added to a previous locked period, service rates changed that impact a service within a prior period, or voided claims. This will help accounting make necessary adjustments in their accounting system.

1. Open the Reports section.
2. From the Accounting Reports, click Exception to Closing Date Report.
3. To run the report, choose the desired Period from the drop-down and click Run Report.
4. The report contains the following information in a table format:
   

   Action Date: The date the transaction was recorded in the system. User: The user who performed the action. Action: One of the following actions will be displayed:  Period close enabled/disabled Period close date modified Service added/removed Patient payment created/voided Claim payment created/deleted/modified Claim voided A cash patient payment was backdated Patient: The patient that the change was made to, clicking on the patient's name will take you to their patient profile.  Link: This column will display a link to the impacted transaction and will be a:  Claim ID Payment ICN Payment Collection Patient Payment

   Created Date: This is the date the claim/treatment/payment was originally created. This could differ from the Action Date if you were editing a payment from a prior period. Post Date: For payments, it will be the date the payment was posted. For treatments, it will be the date of service. This could differ from the Action Date if you were to backdate a payment collection. Amount: The difference between the original and new amounts (for both claims and payments). Details: This column contains a brief description of the change and impact like what period was changed, service name, etc.

FAQ

Q: Are Corrections and Voids affected by a closed period?

A: No, users can still unlock treatments in the Attendance Calendar for a closed period to generate corrections and voids. Any changes made to revenue, like changes to billed amounts, unit count, or voids, will be represented in the Exceptions to Closing Date report.

Q: Is “Submit to Billing” in the Attendance Calendar affected by period close?

A: Conditionally, yes.

If treatments were added to the Attendance Calendar before the period was closed, users can still submit to billing after the period is closed.

If the treatments were added to the Attendance Calendar via Kipu EMR integration after the period was closed, submit to billing will be blocked for the closed period.

Q: Is Claim Creation and Claim Submission affected by a closed period?

A: No, users can still create and submit claims in the Work Center for DOS in a closed period.

Q: Will my organization have to change our internal processes for month-end close to use this new feature?

A: Likely yes, organizations will have to establish a final posting process of 1-5 days after month end to allow your staff to complete charge and payment entry before locking down the period. Organizations are encouraged to run the Exceptions to Closing Date report for the previous 2 periods at each month-end.

Q: Can my organization opt out of using Period Close?

A: Yes, an organization can choose to leave open or re-open and never close any period from January 2021 forward. Avea Support will not be able to "deactivate" Period Close. 

Q: What if my organization has a payer audit project that requires unlocking a period in 2020 or earlier years?

A: Contact Avea Support via email or phone to provide date range requirements for review.