📝 Please note: Explaining a payment is the same as allocating a payment.
How does automatic explanation of payments work?
Dentally will automatically allocate payments to the invoices it thinks are the correct, meaning that manually explaining payments isn't necessary in most cases.
It will aim to explain the payment against any invoice which matches the amount being taken - otherwise, it will automatically allocate to the oldest unpaid invoices.
If there are no outstanding invoices to explain the payment against, it will remain unexplained. The summary will say 'This payment needs explaining', with an amber question mark to the right of the total amount, and the patient will be credited.
When an invoice is raised for the patient, any unexplained payments will be allocated to it automatically.
💡 Top tip: You can manually explain or unexplain a payment whenever you need.
How do I enable automatic explanation of payments?
Automatic explaining is enabled by default. You can disable/enable automatic explanation of payments:
In Dentally's 'Settings', go to 'Practice'.
Click 'Other' and scroll down to the 'Payments' section.
From here you can tick or untick the 'Enable automatic explanation of payments?' checkbox.
📝 Please note: Payment allocations will affect your financial reporting so it is important to ensure they are explained accurately. We recommend using the 'Payment Allocation Totals' report to pay your practitioners, so monitoring and correcting your allocations is essential.