Applying Payments in Avatar

Running head: APPLYING PAYMENTS IN AVATAR 1

Applying Payments in Avatar

Joshua Dougan

La Frontera Arizona

Author Note

This document is being submitted on 01-13-15 for La Frontera employees that are supporting the Billing Department.

APPLYING PAYMENTS IN AVATAR 2

Table of ContentsIntroduction.................................................................................................................................................3

Opening Avatar........................................................................................................................................3

Logging In............................................................................................................................................3

Home Interface........................................................................................................................................4

Searching Forms..................................................................................................................................4

Navigating Through Avatar......................................................................................................................6

Recent Forms.......................................................................................................................................6

Spread Sheet Batch Remittance Form.................................................................................................8

Launching Work Screen.....................................................................................................................11

The “Accept” Button..........................................................................................................................15

Adding a New Row............................................................................................................................16

Balancing...............................................................................................................................................16

Submitting Your Batch...........................................................................................................................17

Batch Remittance Reversal....................................................................................................................19

Viewing a Batch.................................................................................................................................20

Exporting Your Batch.........................................................................................................................21

Formatting Your Batch File................................................................................................................24

Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................27


IntroductionAnything within this document is subject to change by management’s discretion. Failure to follow the processes and procedures depicted within this document will result in management pursuing corrective action. If you feel that there is a way to improve a process, please contact your management privately. With that said, let’s get started!

Opening AvatarPlease select the icon located on your desktop labeled “Avatar 2014 LIVE.”

Logging InA new browser window will appear titled “Avatar Sign-In.”


Using the System Code, Username, and Password assigned to you by your administrator, proceed signing in. Please bear in mind that the credential fields are caps sensitive. If you’re having difficulties logging in, ensure that you’re typing everything according to what was given to you.

Home InterfaceOnce logged into Avatar, you should have a clean/blank interface that looks similar to the image below.

Searching FormsIn order to apply payments we will need to add three forms to our “My Forms” section to assist us. Under the “Search Forms” section located at the bottom left corner please type “Spreadsheet Batch Remittance Posting.”


You should notice that a drop down menu will appear with the form that we are trying to open. Please select the form by double clicking the item.

The System will open the “Spreadsheet Batch Remittance Posting” form main page which is the primary form to apply payments. It is from this form an end user can create, edit, or delete batches.


Navigating Through AvatarBefore beginning to process payments it is highly suggested that you add this form to your “My Forms” section within Avatar. The purpose of this is so that the next time you need to use the form, you will not need to use the “Search Forms” function. Notice the “Home” tab and the “Spreadsheet Batch” tab at the top left corner of the interface. These tabs allow the user to navigate back and forth from form to form.

Please select the “Home” tab and identify your “Recent Forms” section.

Recent FormsYour “Recent Forms” section will show all forms that you’ve opened from the “Search Forms” function for the log-in session of Avatar. One thing to note is that the “Recent Forms” section will be cleared for the next log-in session once you log out of Avatar.


Using your mouse please click and drag the “Spreadsheet Batch Remittance Posting” form to the section on your home page labeled “My Forms.”

This form will now appear as apart of your default settings the next time you log into Avatar. You will no longer need to use the “Search Forms” function again to find the particular form that you placed in the “My Forms” section. It is highly recommended that you perform these steps for the following forms covered later in the guide, “Batch Remittance Reversal” and “Client Ledger.” We will be using both forms extensively. Let’s head back to the “Spreadsheet Batch Remittance” form.


Spread Sheet Batch Remittance FormThe “Spreadsheet Batch Remittance” form is comprised of two different interfaces, the parameters page, and the work screen page. The parameters page is essentially a page in which the user may set different search criteria. The work screen is the screen in which a user can apply the payments.

Parameters Page

Work Screen Page


Parameter InformationWithin the parameter page you will be held responsible to fill the following field with information. Here is a breakdown of the fields you’re required to process.

Batch Description: Is the title of your batch. The format for the batch description is as followed, “Guarantor title, present day’s date, end user’s initials (In caps).” An example of this is if I had to process payments for the guarantor Presbyterian, and today’s date was 01-13-15. My batch description would appear as, “Presbyterian 01-13-15 JD.” In the event that I had to process two or more batches with the same guarantor, on the same date, you may need to add an additional numeric value such as, “Presbyterian 01-13-15 2 JD” or “Presbyterian 01-13-15 3 JD.”

Default Guarantor: Allows you to pre-select a particular guarantor for all entries within your batch. Let’s say that you’re processing a batch for the guarantor Blue Cross Blue Shield. This field will allow you to have the default guarantor search set to Blue Cross Blue Shield’s code, 693. Note that this setting is not permanent though. If you need to alter or manipulate the guarantor search field to a different guarantor, you may do so in the work screen page.

Default Payment Code: Should always be set to “Insurance Payment.” There are several other options within this field that should be reviewed between you and your supervisor prior to using.

Service Start Date: Is the beginning “month-of-services” parameter. When dealing with applying payments you always want to ensure that this date represents the earliest date within your batch of payments to be applied. An example of this is if I have payments ranging as early as 03-01-14 to 09-25-14. I will need to place in the service start date “03-01-14.” If I were to place “03-02-14” as my service start date, the services prior to 03-02-14 will not show within my work screen page. Another thing to note is that this date must be prior to the date you place within the “Service End Date” field. Failure to do so will cause a system error and you will not be allowed to continue until corrected.

Service End Date: Is the ending of “month-of-services” parameter. When dealing with applying payments you always want to ensure that this date represents the latest date within your batch of payments to be applied. An example of this is if I have payments ranging as early as 03-01-14 to 09-25-14. I will need to place in the service end date “09-25-14.” If I were to place “09-24-14” as my service end date, the services after 09-24-14 will not show within my work screen page. Another thing to note is that this date must be prior to the posting date you place within the “Posting Date” field. Failure to do so will cause a system error and you will not be allowed to continue until corrected.

Posting Date: References the deposit date of the E.O.B. Unless specified otherwise, this date will be the same date inputted for the “Date of Receipt” field. Normally you may find the deposit date at the top of your E.O.B. Location of this date may vary depending on the guarantor.


Date of Receipt: Also references the deposit date of the E.O.B. Unless specified otherwise, this date will be the same date inputted for the “Posting Date” field. Normally you may find the deposit date at the top of your E.O.B. Location of this date may vary depending on the guarantor.

Check # (if applicable): Often times this field will be left blank unless the check # is provided within the E.O.B. Generally this information may be found at the top of the E.O.B or on the physical check attached to the E.O.B.

Program(s): This section has many different options/items that an individual may select. Unless you’re instructed otherwise, please select all programs listed. A very simple way to do this is by selecting a program once, and performing a “select all” function (hold your “Ctrl” button on your keyboard and hit the “A” key). If you see all items within the field with a checkmark next to the program name, you have executed correctly.

Below is an image of the different fields depicted above.


Launching Work ScreenAfter filling all appropriate fields within the parameter page, please select the “Launch Work Screen” button located underneath the “Program(s)” field.

The work screen page is the page where you may apply payments and keep a running total of your batch.


Work Screen FieldsWithin the work screen page there are some particular fields that you will be altering/ manipulating to apply the payments from the E.O.B. “Client,” “Payor,” “Payment Amount,” and “Payment Code,” are all fields that you may need to change. One thing to note though is that due to you setting the “Default Guarantor” and “Default Payment Code” on the parameter page, you should not have to alter these fields upon each individual client entry. What you set within the parameters field should populate automatically.

Processing a PaymentIn order to apply a payment you must first start by performing a client search within Avatar. You may do this by double clicking the “Client” field. The field should now accept text. It is important that when typing client names that you execute with this format, “ClientLastName,ClientFirstName.” The entry needs to be one word with the comma separating the last name from the first name.

Client NameA real example is if I wanted to apply payments made by Aldous Campos. To activate the field search after plugging the client’s name within the “Client” field, hit your “Enter” key on the keyboard. If done correctly, a drop menu of available client names/client i.d.’s will appear. Please select the appropriate client to apply payments and continue.


You will run into many situations where you may not find the client on your first try. The names within Avatar and the E.O.B.s may appear slightly different. One of the nice things about Avatar though is that you don’t necessarily need to type the full client name to find the person.

In this particular case when I type “Camp” within the “Client” field, I should receive all results for clients with those first few letters, in that order, for their last name. See below.

Although, if the system has more than 50 search results, you will need to specify the client search further.

Let’s try doing “Camp,Al” and see what the results look like.

When the drop menu appears, please select the appropriate client to carry on.


Notice that after the client selection is made, particular fields that were once blank will auto-populate with information.

List of ServicesThe next step towards applying a payment is to open the client’s list of services. To do this you will need to select the “+” icon located next to the appropriate client’s name. The “+” icon may expand or collapse the client’s service list.

Pre Expanding

Post Expanding

The client’s service list will vary in length and amount from client to client. It is important though that you ensure that the information you plugged within the “Service Start Date” and “Service End Date” is accurate because it directly impacts what you see for available services.

At this point you will want to identify the “Service Date” and “Service Code” within your E.O.B. and Avatar. If your date and code do not match one and other from the E.O.B. to Avatar, DO NOT APPLY THE PAYMENT. If your information does match, please double click within the “Payment Amount” field and key in the paid amount indicated from your E.O.B.


Information to IdentifyIn this example I will need to apply a payment for Mr. Campos for a service date of 09-04-2014, that has a service code of H2033, for $337.50. All of that information is from the E.O.B. that I am trying to process. I will need to identify the appropriate line within Avatar.

Once I have identified the service date that has that appropriate code, I may apply the payment. After keying in the appropriate amount you should notice that the “Payment Amount” field that I altered will have black text and the number “102” next to it located in the “Payment Code” section.

Payment CodeThe reason why you should see “102” next to your payment entry is due to you setting the “Default Payment Code” to “Insurance Payment” on the parameter page. If the payment code does not auto-populate, please check your parameter page by selecting the “Accept” button located at the bottom of your work screen page.

The “Accept” ButtonThe “Accept” Button is essentially a “save” function. It is highly recommended that in the event you’re working large E.O.B.s that you use the “Accept” button often. In the case that you need to alter or continue a batch that had not been fully processed, you may access it by using the “Edit Batch” option within the parameter page. The “Remittance Batch Number” field will no longer be greyed out and you may use the drop down menu to select the appropriate batch.


Adding a New RowHeading back to the work screen page, once you have completed entering the appropriate payments for a particular client, you will need to add a new row for the next client. You’re able to do this by selecting the “New Row” button located at the bottom right portion of your work screen.

The “New Row” button will create a new blank line similar to the line that we filled the client’s name with.

As you did before, you will need to fill the “Client” field and proceed to follow the steps depicted above.

BalancingPlease note that at the bottom of your work screen page there is a field titled “Payment Amount.” When you finish keying a page from the E.O.B. to Avatar it is IMPERATIVE TO WRITE DOWN THE “PAYMENT AMOUNT” ON THE E.O.B.

This step is crucial for the balancing process. It will allow you to identify discrepancies between your E.O.B. and Avatar if you don’t balance. What do I mean by “balance” though? Balancing


means to ensure that the final product, the “Paid Amount” field within Avatar, matches the paid amount identified within the E.O.B. If you don’t balance, you may not proceed to completing the batch. Everything must be accounted for.

This is not to say that you will be able to apply all payments though. There will be some cases where you may not be able to see the appropriate service line within your batch. In this event, please circle the item on the E.O.B. and attach a sticky note on the page that contains the item. This will not only help you during the balance process, but it will inform the auditor that they need to review an issue with that particular service code/date/client.

If you have completed the balance process successfully, you may proceed. Select the “Accept” button to return to the parameters page.

Submitting Your BatchDouble check the information on your parameters page one more time, and if all is accounted for, select the “Submit” button located at the top left corner of the page.


Avatar will then generate a “Batch Number” that you must write down on the front page of your E.O.B. Again this is just another step to enforce the audit process. Please select the “Ok” button after you have written down the batch number on your E.O.B.

Receiving the batch number solidifies that the processing of the batch has been completed, but you’re not done just yet. In order to complete the action we also need to generate a hard copy of the batch, and attach it to the E.O.B. in case of an audit. Using the “Home Tab” please go to your main page within Avatar and click once within the “Search Forms” field.


Batch Remittance ReversalTo pull a report, you will need to find the “Batch Remittance Reversal” form using the search function. I also recommend that you add this form to your “My Forms” section. The Batch Remittance Reversal form should appear:

Using the drop down menu you will need to identify the batch that you just processed. Despite the drop down menu looking extremely cluttered there are two pieces of information that make this process easy; the posting date, and the batch number that Avatar produced when you processed the batch (you should have written this number down on the front page of your batch per the instructions).


The batches will appear within the drop down menu organized by chronological order via the posting date. On the right hand side of the drop down menu you should notice a column that says “ID:” with a various number. The numbers represent the batch ID that the system gave you. Knowing this, please identify your batch within the drop menu. Next you will need to select the “View Batch” button underneath the drop menu. Under no circumstances should you ever select the submit button. This will delete the batch you just processed and you will have to rekey all the information you did previously (SO DON’T DO IT!!!!).

Viewing a BatchThe “View Batch” button will allow you to do a few things with the batch but you will need to export the information to Microsoft Excel. In the top left corner of the view panel, select the “Save” button.


Exporting Your BatchThe export window will appear within the middle of your screen.

Select the drop menu for format and click the “Microsoft Excel 97-2000 (XLS)” option. Then hit the “Ok” button. The “Excel Format Options” window will appear.

Select the “Ok” button once more which should pull up the “Export File” directory. Please save the file under “Documents.” The File Name should also match the “Batch Description” field that you filled out earlier. Notice the example below. Select “Save” when completed.


The file is now within Microsoft Excel on your hard drive.


You will now need to pull the file up. Please locate the file within your documents on your hard drive. You can quickly do this by selecting the folder located at the bottom of your screen within windows. Immediately following select the “Documents” directory and identify/open your file.

The file that you open should have the same format as the example below


Formatting Your Batch FileYou’re required to print a clean report so let’s start by cleaning up the information presented. Expand Columns “E” and “F” by double clicking on the ends of each column. This will remove the “#” symbols and show the information from the report.

FilteringNext you will need to put a filter on columns “J” through “L.” Highlight columns “J” through “L” and select the filter option located in the top right corner of Microsoft Excel.

This should enable the filters for the selected columns only.


Use the filter option in column “J” and deselect the “0” option. Use the filter option within column “L” and deselect the “102” option. What this should leave you with is the totals for the payment amount per client vs having all those “0’s” from before.

Subtotal FormulaWhen the information has been filtered, you will also need to use a formula to calculate the payment amount. Give yourself 1 cell under the final payment amount to do this formula. In the cell you will want to type the following, “=subtotal(109,” After the comma you must put a range on the formula. In the example above, you would only need to select the one cell. In more complicated situations you may need to create a wide range like the example below.

The formula required to get the total was =SUBTOTAL(109,J12:J1433). If you have issues with trying to create the range of the formula, please get with your supervisor for a quick tutorial. I promise it’s painless. This formula should equate to the same amount that you had balanced to earlier.


Final TouchesAfter calculating your formula, you will also be required to type “Grand Total” in column “H” adjacent to your formula. Please make sure that you bold (Ctrl+B) and underline (Ctrl+U) these two cells.

The final format step prior to printing is hiding columns “S” and “T.” Please highlight columns “S” and “T.” Use the right mouse button and select the “Hide” option.

In more complicated situations you may be required to unhide those columns, but in this particular case, hide away!


ConclusionCongratulations, you’re ready to print your batch and move on to the next one. Please place the hardcopy of your batch at the front of your E.O.B. and turn it into your auditor. If you’re unsure of whom the auditor is, don’t hesitate to ask. Asking questions is much better than making mistakes! If you have any issues, don’t be afraid to speak up. There is not a mistake you can make, that hasn’t been made. Good luck!

Applying Payments in Avatar

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