Patient payments collected at the time of service are not applied immediately. StrataEMR holds them as unapplied funds until the claim has been processed and patient responsibility is confirmed. This article explains how that process works and what happens when a refund is owed.
Access: All staff can view a patient’s case and the Policies page.
How Unapplied Funds Work
When you collect a payment from a patient — such as a copay or estimated cost-share — StrataEMR holds that payment as unapplied funds. The payment stays in that state until the claim for that date of service is adjudicated and remittance advice is returned.
Once StrataEMR receives the remittance advice, it processes the payment details and passes any remaining balance through any secondary or tertiary payers on the case.
When no additional payers remain, StrataEMR transfers the outstanding balance to patient responsibility. At that point, the unapplied funds are applied to that date of service first, then to any remaining patient responsibility from oldest to newest.
Payment application runs nightly. If an insurance payment was just posted, unapplied funds may not be reflected until the following day.
Refund Tasks
StrataEMR runs an internal review 45 days after all claims on a case have processed. If any unapplied funds remain that cannot be applied to a balance, StrataEMR generates a system task notifying you that a refund is owed to the patient.
Do not issue a refund without completing the associated refund task. Refunds must be recorded in StrataEMR to ensure accurate balance tracking and correct invoice calculation.
- Open the patient’s account.
- Select the Financial tab from the Patient Menu Bar.
- Select Refunds.
- Enter the date, amount, payment type, and any reference notes for the refund.
Recording a refund task does not send money anywhere. Completing a refund task in StrataEMR only balances the patient’s account in your ledger, it does not contact Authorize.net or any other payment processor, and it does not move funds back to the patient. The payment type you select on the refund is a record-keeping notation only, not an instruction to a gateway.You are still responsible for actually returning the funds to the patient, separately from this step. For example, by mailing a check or processing a refund yourself through your Authorize.net Merchant Interface. If the original payment was a credit card charge, see Correct a Payment Charged in Error for how to process that refund in Authorize.net. When talking to patients about a refund, be specific about timing. Telling a patient “we’ve refunded you” before the funds have actually been returned, via check, Authorize.net, or any other method, is a common source of confusion and complaints. Confirm the money has actually moved before communicating that a refund is complete.
Dismissing a Refund Task Without Issuing a Refund
If a patient has a credit on their account but you are not ready to issue a refund, you can dismiss the task.
- Select the No Refund Required box on the refund task to mark it as completed without issuing a payment.
- If the patient is returning and will use the same account, the credit remains and will apply to future visits.
- If the patient is returning under a new account, contact your Customer Success Manager to transfer the credit.
Requesting an Early Refund
StrataEMR generates refund tasks automatically 45 days after claims process. If a patient requests a refund sooner, or you need to issue one before the task appears, contact your Customer Success Manager via a StrataEMR ticket. The team will review the account and create the refund task manually if appropriate. 
