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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.

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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.

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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.
To record a refund once the task appears:
  1. Open the patient’s account.
  2. Select the Financial tab from the Patient Menu Bar.
  3. Select Refunds.
  4. Enter the date, amount, payment type, and any reference notes for the refund.

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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 X icon next to 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 Account Manager to transfer the credit.

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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 Account Manager via the StrataEMR messaging platform. The payment processing team will review the account and create the refund task manually.