Updated 5/25/2022

Did you know Dentrix allows you to charge additional fees to patients with whom you have made payment agreements or to whom you have extended credit? These fees are divided into two groups: finance charges and late charges.

A finance charge is a fee that represents the cost for credit or the cost for borrowing, and is similar to an interest charge you might receive on a home or car loan. A late charge is a fee assessed to an account for paying on an existing balance after its due date.

As part of your monthly tasks you can apply finance and late charges to all applicable accounts at once. Dentrix only applies late charges to accounts with payment agreements, while finance charges can be applied regardless of whether an account has a payment agreement.

In addition to applying finance charges as part of your monthly tasks using the Reports and Tasks Scheduler, you can also apply finance and late charges for individual patients manually.

To manually post finance or late charges:

1. With a patient selected in the Ledger, from the Transaction menu, click Enter Finance Charge or Late Charge.
   
2. Enter the following information:
   • Date – Enter the charge date in the Date field. The date defaults to the current date.
   • Type – Select either Finance Charge or Late Charge.
   • Amount – Enter the amount to charge to the patient account.
   • Provider – If needed, click the provider search button and select the patient’s provider (by default, Dentrix selects the patient’s primary provider).
3. To provide clarification for the charge, type an explanation in the Note field.
4. Click OK to save your changes and apply the finance or late charge.

The finance or late charge will appear in the patient’s Ledger and on their next billing statement. Their account balance will also include this new charge.

Additional Information

• See Dentrix Help for information on how to apply late charges or finance charges monthly, or for information on clearing finance charges or clearing late charges.
• Read Schedule Routine Tasks and Reports to Run Automatically in Dentrix Magazine for additional information on automating these tasks.