6 min read · Published
In short
- It starts before the day, with a full estimate the patient has agreed to.
- Patients pay by card or bank transfer from a secure form, already filled in with what they owe.
- Reminders go by email and SMS before and after the due date, at hours that suit the patient.
- The bank feed is read every hour, so what is outstanding is a number you can trust.
Agreement first
Anaemate’s estimate shows the patient the whole account before the procedure, and their consent is kept with the encounter, so the invoice matches what they agreed to. If a patient still has not consented by the day of surgery, they are reminded that consent is due, and you and the practice team are alerted.
Before the day, or after
Depending on how you bill, the patient pays their share before the procedure, a set number of business days ahead, or receives their invoice afterwards. Groups can set their own payment terms, including separate terms for insurance-declined and top-up invoices, and the right due date flows through to the invoice and the patient’s message.
Easy to pay
Invoice messages carry a secure link to pay. The payment form is already filled in with the balance still owing, less anything already paid. Patients can pay by card, with the card fee met by the patient, or choose bank transfer, and the account details and payment reference arrive by email and SMS. Receipts follow by email, with a PDF, or by SMS.
Reminders at the right time
Patients are reminded by email and SMS the day before payment is due, on the day, and one, three and five days after. Text messages go only between 8am and 8pm on business days in the patient’s state, skipping weekends and public holidays, and a patient receives no more than one email and one text about an account in a day.
If a patient has chosen bank transfer and the money has not arrived yet, they receive a note that the transfer has not been received instead of a due-date reminder.
Followed up, not left to age
In the dashboard, the Follow Up workspace keeps a live list of every account that needs attention, with notes on each and an export to CSV. In the app, each doctor’s Follow Up tab shows their own bills not yet submitted, accounts over 30 days, underpayments and cases awaiting review. Doctors are told by SMS when an account is a day overdue, and by email at 10 and 30 days.
- Consent due and patient payment due
- Over 30 days, underpaid and overpaid
- Claim errors
- Pending refunds and pending reviews
- Debt collection, on hold and pending cancellation
Handover without the email chain
A doctor can hand a case over to the practice team from the app, with a note, and the team can send it back for the doctor’s review. Doctors can also set a timed reminder on any case.
Knowing what is actually owed
Every hour, Anaemate reads the bank feed of the account payments are collected into, which is your own on Premium and Groups, through an accredited open banking provider that supports more than 110 Australian banks. Transfers are matched to invoices by their reference, card payouts clear automatically, and health fund remittances are matched to the deposits that paid them.
The benefit received is compared with the benefit claimed. Differences inside your variance threshold reconcile themselves, in either direction; anything outside it is flagged as underpaid or overpaid for review. Payments pending are shown by age: under 30 days, 30 to 60, and over 60.
How the money reaches you
On Anaemate Standard, TCI Health collects your Medicare and fund benefits and your patients’ payments as your billing agent. Every second Tuesday, the payments received in the fortnight just ended are paid into your bank account, less the fee, and an invoice for the fee lists every payment by case. Quarterly BAS and end-of-financial-year reports arrive on their own.
On Anaemate Premium and Anaemate Groups, payments go straight into your own bank accounts.
When a fund pays less
If a fund declines or part-pays a claim, the patient is re-invoiced with earlier payments carried across, or sent a top-up invoice, so there is always one active invoice with the right balance.
When an account needs more
Where an account becomes a bad debt, Anaemate advises on the options for recovery. Moving an encounter to debt collection switches off online payment for that account automatically, while the invoice stays active.
The whole picture
The dashboard shows totals for any period: amounts requested and collected, refunds, underpayments, overpayments and bad debts. In the app, each doctor sees what they have earned and collected, and what is still pending.
