Running statements or verifying insurance can be time-intensive and put a heavier load on your server that could affect performance, so running these processes after hours can be helpful. In this post, we’ll show you how to set up Scheduled Processes in Open Dental to take care of these things for you during non-working hours.

Scheduled Processes allow your office to set up a designated time to run a Batch Insurance Verification and generate statements.

Add a Scheduled Process

To add a Scheduled Process, go to Setup, Advanced Setup, Scheduled Processes, and click Add.

Next, set up the Scheduled Process:

• Scheduled Action: Read below to find out more information on the options available.
• Frequency to Run
• Time to Run

Ins Batch Verify

If your office has set up integration with a Clearinghouse for electronic eligibility, you can schedule the Ins Verify Batch action to run at a specific time (usually after hours). When Open Dental runs the Ins Verify Batch action, it will update patients’ insurance information depending on the Ins Verify Batch Preferences.

Only patients who currently show on the Insurance Verification List (with the default settings) will be run through the batch. Open Dental uses the 271 file from the insurance carrier to verify benefits and eligibility. Any patients who do not match the 271 will remain on the Insurance Verification List, so staff can attend to those as needed and verify benefits manually if necessary.

Statements

Generating statements from the Billing List can take quite a while, especially if you have a large practice, so setting up a Scheduled Process can be helpful when you’re emailing statements or sending them via a third-party clearinghouse. (If your office prints and mails statements in-house, Scheduled Processes aren’t for you).

The default settings used in Billing Options are used to generate statements when the Scheduled Process is run. Aging is calculated at the time the statements are generated.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Superfamily statements are not considered
• The process should be scheduled after Dynamic Payment Plan, Repeating Charges, and Recurring Charges run times
• Any existing statements in the Billing List must be cleared (deleted or sent) before the scheduled Time to Run

If a statement fails to send, it will remain in the Billing List as Unsent, so staff can easily handle any statements individually. Sent statements can also be found by clicking the Sent radio button in the Billing List.

Recall Synch

This will recalculate due dates for all patients based on their current Recall Type.

Using Scheduled Processes can help you automate the processing of resource-heavy tasks in a way that minimizes impact to your staff. Find out more information about this time-saving feature in our manual, and contact our talented Support Staff if you ever have questions!