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To refund a payment:
- Navigate to the patient’s Account tab and select the invoice in question.
- Press the Refund button to open the refund window.
At this point the steps differ slightly depending on whether you are partially refunding the payment, or fully refunding it.
Partial refund
A partial refund would be used in a scenario where the patient was overcharged, or where the patient overpaid their account, and you need to refund only part of their payment (rather than the full amount).
- In the Invoice Refund window, type in the amount to be refunded in the Amount field.
- Select the Payment Date, i.e., the date the refund was processed - this can be backdated*.
- Select the refund reason and the payment method.
- Optionally, add a reference note if required.
- Press Refund to proceed and generate the refund slip.
*You should backdate refunds if you are refunding prior to re-receipting a past payment, e.g. when fixing an incorrect payment method. This will ensure that your banking records are accurate.
Full refund
A full refund would be used in a scenario where, for instance, the patient was accidentally billed and charged for an incorrect item number. In this scenario the patient needs to be refunded for the full cost of the item.
- In the Invoice Refund window, enter the details - payment date, reason, and method.
- Click the Full Refund button.
- This will autopopulate the full payment amount into the Amount field.
- Press Refund to confirm the refund and generate the refund slip.
Once you have processed a refund of any kind, it will be recorded under the Payment Summary for this invoice, alongside any payments.
Note the "EFTPOS - Refund" shown in the Payment Summary table of the screenshot below.
Fixing incorrect payment source
If you have accidentally receipted an invoice with an incorrect payment source, e.g. if it was receipted as EFTPOS when it was paid in Cash, you can fix this by refunding and then re-receipting the invoice with the correct payment source type.
When doing so, you should change the refund and re-receipt dates to match the original payment date. This will ensure your banking records are accurate.
Please see our Receipt has wrong payment method for detailed instructions.
Refunding deposits
It is also possible to refund a patient's deposit.
Please see the Refund a deposit section of our Deposits & Pre-Payments article for more information.
Organisational Remittance refund
If you need to refund an organisational or third-party invoice which was receipted through Organisational Remittance, you can do so through the Banking Report.
- Open Financials > Banking Report.
- Use the Date Range picker and Filter options at the top of the screen to narrow down the payment.
- Locate the payment in the list of transactions.
- In the far right hand column you will see the Reverse icon.
- Click the Reverse icon to open the Invoice Refund window.
- Fill in the Reason and Description.
- Press Reverse Payment.
Note: it is not possible to partially refund an Organisational Remittance receipt. You would need to reverse the receipt in full, adjust the invoice, and then re-receipt the account via Organisational Remittance.
You can also use this method to reverse Automatic Receipts for online claims. Please see the Reversing an Organisational Receipt article for important information about this process.
Click here to see frequently asked questions.
> Can I adjust an item without (or before) refunding it?
You cannot adjust an item’s fee down if the item has been fully paid. If you attempt to do so, Gentu will alert you that the final balance cannot be less than $0, and you will be unable to proceed.
> Gentu won't let me refund the patient's deposit. Why not?
For instance: you know the patient has a deposit on hold but when you attempt to refund it, Gentu tells you that the maximum you can refund is $0.00, and if you type in the amount to refund, Gentu tells you it's too much.
This can occur if you have accepted multiple deposits from that patient on behalf of two (or more) of the providers at your practice.
You will need to select the provider from the drop down menu before Gentu will let you proceed with refunding the deposit.
> How do refunds and adjustments affect financial reports?
All refunds and adjustments are reflected in Gentu's financial reports (accessible via the Reports panel).
The Banking Report will display refunds made in the selected time period, as well as payments.
In the example above, the Banking Report shows the original payment and the subsequent refund.
The Financial Report will show the original item and charge, as well as any adjustments made, line by line.
For more information on the Financial Report, please see this article.
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