Reverse a Transaction

With the Reverse a Transaction function, you can remove entries from the patient records, the insurance records, and the statistical files. Although an audit trail is still maintained, reversals do not print on the patient statements or on the insurance forms. Any charge, payment, or adjustment may be reversed using this function unless the billing period close date falls after the accounting date of the transaction(s) you want to reverse (see Close the Billing Period, located in the Billing Menu). If the billing period has been closed, there are alternative ways to correct accounts other than the reversal. For example, if the transaction you need to correct or remove is a procedure, you can also enter a negative charge (see Entering Negative Charges located in Transactions, Procedure Entry).

Upon accessing this function, you must first select the patient account that contains the transaction(s) you want to reverse. If you try to access a patient's account and it is already in use, CGM webPRACTICE displays the message Patient file in use...Try again later. This prevents workstations from locking up while they wait for the patient's account to become available.

After selecting the patient account, the patient's transaction history displays. If you only want to reverse transactions for a particular case, select the case you want from the Case list and the screen refreshes to show only the transactions for that case. To limit the quantity of transactions displayed to a specific date-of-service range, type the From and Thru dates and click Go.

You can reverse a single line item by clicking the encounter to open the Encounter Edit screen and selecting the charge there, or you can use the multi-select check boxes on the encounter list to act on multiple encounters or charges at once. Check boxes to the left of the Service Date column header and to the left of each charge line item let you select an individual line item, multiple line items, all line items, or whole encounters. To select items that span multiple pages of the patient's transaction history, select the items on the current page and then paginate to the next page to select additional items. The Actions drop-down (located under the Date of Service From and Thru boxes) becomes active when at least one box is selected.

Action Column Buttons

Notes — Opens the patient notes window.
INotes — Opens the internal notes window.
Refresh — Refreshes the encounter list to reflect any changes.
Hide Rev/Neg/Moved — Hides any reversed, negated, or moved transactions from the display.
Expand All — Expands every encounter to show all line items.
Select All — Toggle button. Selects all encounters or line items currently displayed; click again to Clear All.
Add/Edit Filter — Opens the filter screen so you can narrow the list to specific transactions.
Remove Filter — Clears the active filter and returns the screen to the full transaction list.

Reverse a Transaction from Encounter Edit

To reverse a specific charge, payment, or adjustment, click the encounter that contains the line item. The Encounter Edit screen opens, showing the encounter header information and all line items for that encounter. Select the check box to the left of the line item(s) you want to reverse, click the Encounter Actions drop-down, and select Reverse.

Encounter Actions

Reverse — Opens the Reverse dialog so you can type a Reversal Reason and reverse the selected line item(s).
Negate — Posts an offsetting negative entry for the selected line item(s).
Deny — Marks the selected line item(s) as denied.
Refile — Refiles the encounter or selected items to an insurance carrier.
Demand — Sends a demand for payment on the selected items.
File — Files the encounter or selected items to an insurance carrier.
Pend — Marks the selected payment line item(s) as pending so they remain in the patient's open balance.
Unpend — Removes the Pend status from a previously pended payment line item.
Move — Moves the selected charge to a different encounter.

Reverse Dialog

When you select Reverse from the Encounter Actions drop-down, the Reverse dialog opens. Type a Reversal Reason describing why the transaction is being reversed and click Save. The reversal reason displays when the patient's transaction history is reviewed in detail, along with the date the transaction was reversed.

Data Field Information

Prompt	Response	Req	Len
Reversal Reason	Type the reason for the reversal. The reversal reason and the date the transaction was reversed display when the patient's transaction history is reviewed in detail.		40

If any procedure that was selected had payments and/or adjustments applied against it, those payments and adjustments will also be reversed, even if they were posted with a different accounting date. CGM webPRACTICE automatically determines those transactions that will be affected by the reversal. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE AWARE OF EVERY TRANSACTION ABOUT TO BE REVERSED.

Notes:

A reversal can be performed on a line item as long as its status is Denied, Co-Pay, or Filed and the claim has not been sent.
You can reverse a payment or adjustment even when it was previously applied toward a transaction that was reversed, as long as the open amount remaining on the payment or adjustment equals the original amount posted.
You cannot reverse a transaction whose accounting date falls within a closed billing period. Use a negative charge or other correction method in that case.

After the Reversal

Once the transactions are reversed, the original line items are marked with a V in the insurance image (Ins Img) column and shown with a strike-through on the patient's transaction history. The V indicates the transaction has been voided. When viewing transaction history, reversed items are not displayed unless you select the All format (or clear the Hide Rev/Neg/Moved Action Column option). A new encounter is created to capture the reversal entry.