Office Ally Billing Statements: How to Find Them, See All of Them, and Send Them
Short answer: Nothing failed. Generated statements live under Accounting, then Reports, then Manage Billing Statements. Statement List shows only what is new, so change the view to View and Printed and double click over the top of the statement date column header to pull in the full list. Before you print anything, click View to see how long each statement runs, export the long ones to Excel to fit them onto one page, or save as PDF and send by secure encrypted email instead.
Where your statements went
You posted the payment, typed the message, and clicked Apply and Generate a Statement. Then nothing obvious tells you where any of it landed.
It is all under the Accounting tab, in Reports, in Manage Billing Statements. Every statement you just created is sitting there, along with the message you put on each one, whether that was this has gone to the deductible, this is your responsibility, or thank you for your payment.
That screen does two jobs. You can generate statements from it, and you can view your statement list from it. Most of the trouble people have with statements comes from not knowing the second job is there.
Why the list looks short
You generate a month of statements, go back to look them up, and Office Ally shows you three or four. Not the month. Three or four.
Nothing on the screen tells you the view is incomplete, so the reasonable conclusion is that the batch failed.
It did not. Statement List only shows what is new. Everything else you have generated is sitting behind a view setting and a refresh that the screen does not advertise.
Finding the full list
Open your Office Ally account.
Click the Accounting tab in the top taskbar.
Move over to Reports and hover with your mouse to open the drop down.
Choose Manage Billing Statements and click it.
Click Statement List. This shows anything you have just created, meaning statements that are new because you generated them a moment ago.
Change the view to View and Printed. This is what gives you access to the entire list rather than only the newest items.
Double click over the top of the statement date column header. This refreshes the page and pulls in the entire list.
Read the list and confirm you are seeing what you expect.
The double click is the piece nobody finds on their own. It moves the list backwards in time and then returns it to the current date, and that round trip is what makes the full set appear.
Both moves are required and they go in order. Change the view first, then double click the date header. Doing only the first leaves you on a list that has not refreshed. Doing only the second refreshes a view that is still limited to new items. Either way you end up with a partial list that looks complete, which is the worst kind of partial list.
Look before you print
Now that you can see everything, there are two decisions most people skip.
The first is whether to look at a statement before printing it. Click View. Statement length varies with how many charges sit on the account, so a batch that looks routine can hold accounts that run to several pages each.
If a statement runs long, export it to Excel and shrink it to fit onto one page. Page count is what drives the cost of a monthly mailing.
Or skip the envelope entirely
The second decision is whether the statement needs to be mailed at all.
Save it as a PDF, keep a copy in your file, and send it using a secure email service with end to end encryption, such as Proton Mail. That saves stamps, paper, and a trip to the post office.
One thing to settle first. A patient statement contains protected health information, so ordinary email is not an appropriate delivery method for it. Confirm that your chosen service and your process meet your privacy and security obligations, and confirm the patient has agreed to receive statements electronically according to your practice policy. Settle that, then save the stamps.
The two mistakes this prevents
Believing the short list and regenerating
The statement list will happily show you three or four statements when you generated a hundred, and there is no warning that the view is partial. Somebody regenerates a month of statements that already exist, and now the practice has duplicates to identify and clean up, and possibly duplicate statements headed to patients who already received one. That is a real customer service problem created entirely by a display filter.
The quieter version is just as costly. A statement that exists cannot be found, someone tells a patient it was never sent, and the account gets handled on bad information. Refresh the list properly before you conclude anything is missing.
Printing before viewing
Print is the faster click, so it is the one people take. You find out how long the statements were after they are printed, when the paper is already used and the envelopes are already heavier than they needed to be. On a monthly mailing that difference compounds into a real number. View first, export and compress the long ones, then print.
Most billing problems leave clues. These two leave a filtered screen and a stack of paper.
Watch the walkthroughs
How to Find, and View Office Ally Billing Statements:
How to Find and Manage Billing Statements: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=391Rri1UHnw
More Office Ally training
Office Ally User Tips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKy3v1MYIfrena2qTaydfTiIPkTcZ2cmD
Free forms and resources: https://mariematteson.com/resources
Office Ally consulting and training: https://mariematteson.com/officeally
Medical Receptionist and Biller Course: https://mariematteson.com/medcourse
Free 15 Minute Q and A: https://link.tekmatix.com/widget/bookings/15marieqa
Marie Matteson, MS, is a healthcare consultant, educator, and Office Ally specialist with more than 30 years in healthcare, emergency medicine, and practice management. Helping you understand what's really going on.
All patient information referenced here has been redacted. This content is educational and is not billing, legal, or coding advice. Always follow your payer contracts, your practice policies, and current coding guidelines. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Office Ally.
© Marie Matteson. All rights reserved.
