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Timely Filing & Write-Offs

Insurance money has a shelf life: most payers refuse claims filed too long after the session. This page covers how the app keeps aging sessions visible, the right way to clear the Unbilled list, and how to write off balances you've decided not to chase.

Watching the Clock on Unbilled Sessions

The Unbilled Appointments tab ages every session:

  • Past 60 days, the session gets an orange days-badge ("Approaching filing deadline") and the tab shows a standing warning: "Some appointments are approaching timely filing deadlines. Submit or download claims promptly to avoid denials."
  • Past 90 days, the badge turns red — "Past typical filing deadline - submit immediately."

These thresholds are deliberately generic (payer deadlines range from 90 days to a year) — the app doesn't track per-payer limits, so treat 60 days as your act-now line. The list looks back a full year so old at-risk sessions can't quietly scroll away.

Sessions Become Billable on Their Own

You don't have to mark "Show" for a session to become billable — any past session that isn't cancelled shows up in Unbilled immediately, and an evening job (around 8 PM practice time) finalizes unmarked past appointments: attended status, billable charge, done.

The flip side: an unmarked no-show becomes billable too. Mark no-shows (and cancellations) the day they happen, or they'll be sitting in your filing queue looking like real sessions.

Clearing a Session Off the Unbilled List

Each row's menu offers every legitimate exit:

  • Confirm attendance (Show) — it's real; file it.
  • Mark No-Show — drops off the list (and the no-show fee, if you charge one, is a client-billing matter, not a claim).
  • Mark as Self-Pay — this session bills the client directly instead of insurance. This is also the right choice for a courtesy or free session: mark it self-pay and set the fee to $0.
  • Download CMS-1500 (file externally) — you're filing it, just not through the platform; see External filing. Recording the insurance payment later matches it back to this claim.

Writing Off a Balance

When a claim's remaining balance isn't going to be collected — a contractual adjustment, a missed deadline, a denied claim you won't appeal — record a write-off so your books say so explicitly:

  1. On the claim (Claims tab row menu, or the claim's detail page), choose Write Off.
  2. The modal shows Billed / Paid / Balance and suggests the remaining amount.
  3. Pick the reason: Contractual Adjustment, Denied - No Appeal, Timely Filing, Patient Hardship, Small Balance, Bad Debt, or Other.
  4. Click Record Write-Off — the claim shows "Fully Resolved" when nothing remains, and the write-off is recorded in the audit trail with its reason.

Deductible claims get a shortcut: when a payer applies the claim to the client's deductible, the suggested write-off is the contractual amount — "billed amount minus client responsibility" — so you write off the insurance discount and bill the client their true share (see Balances & deductibles).