Version 14.19

When posting an ERA, OP defaults the Payment Date to the Pay Date assigned by the payer. For example, here is a Tricare payment with an ERA date of 6/18/24 and a Pay Date of 6/24/24:

After entering these payments from the Adjudications tab (Billing > Billing Center > Adjudications), the Pay Date shows 6/24/24, the default date assigned by the payer.

When we double-click to inspect the line item posting, we also see a Payment Date of 6/24/24. (By contrast, the Posting Date is the actual date/time stamp that the practice's biller posted this adjudication line item. In this case, it happens to be the same date as the Pay Date).

However, the Pay Date usually does not match the actual deposit date -- that is, the date the $63.92 appeared in the practice's bank account. In fact, there is frequently a 2-3 day difference -- and occasionally as long as 10-14 days -- between when the payer claims to make the deposit and when your bank actually receives it. This makes reconciling a practice's bank account against OP a time-consuming manual process.

Therefore, using the Force Pay Date feature can be used to match the payment date with the deposit date. This makes reconciling OP to your bank account much faster and easier.

Note: The Force Pay Date must be entered before starting to post adjudications. There is no way to go back and change this date after the payment is posted unless it is deleted and re-posted.

Using Force by Pay Date

In the Adjudications tab, there is a drop-down menu selection for Force pay date:

Set this dropdown to your desired date, e.g. the date the payment actually arrived in your bank account. Let's say in this example we want to use 6/20/24. So we would enter 6/20/24 in the Force pay date dropdown:

Then, we post the adjudication. On both the Claims screen, and when double-clicking to inspect the adjudication, we see that the forced date of 6/20/24, rather than the payer-assigned default date of 6/24/24, is present:

Version 14.10

Path: Smart Toolbar > Billing button > Adjudications tab

Overview

The Force Pay Date can be used to match the posting date with the deposit date. When posting an ERA it will post with the ERA Date not the Pay Date. If the posting date should match the Pay Date, use the Force Pay Date to update accordingly. The Force Pay Date should be entered before Posting. There is no way to go back and change the date after the payment is posted unless it is deleted and re-posted.

Purpose of Force by Pay Date

In the Adjudications tab, there is a dropdown selection for a Force pay date.

Electronic Billing Center

The function of the force pay date is for instances of matching your payments in OP to balance to your deposits in your bank account.

If you receive an Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA) payment with an ERA date of one date, and a Pay Date not matching the ERA date, this may be an instance where you would want to force a pay date.