Mistakes happen, and in a busy practice, it’s not uncommon to accidentally enter a payment, chart entry, or appointment for the wrong patient. The good news? Jane gives you a few easy ways to fix things and get everything back on track.
In this guide, we’ll walk through what to do if you’ve:
- Entered a payment for the wrong patient
- Charted under the wrong patient’s file
- Scheduled an appointment for the wrong patient
Let’s take a look at how to clean things up in each case.
Entered a payment for the wrong patient
If you’ve applied a payment to the wrong patient’s account, the steps to fix it will depend on how the payment was processed—whether it was entered manually or processed through Jane Payments. We’ll walk you through each option so you can choose the one that works best for your situation.
External payment
This section covers what to do when the payment was made outside of Jane, for example, by cash, e-transfer, cheque, or an external point-of-sale (POS) system. Since these payment types are recorded manually in Jane, you can simply delete the payment that was entered under the wrong patient and re-enter it under the correct one.
Start by heading to the Billing > Payments section of the incorrect patient’s profile. Find the payment and click View on it to open up the payment panel. From there, simply hit the trash can icon to delete or void it.
Once that’s done, you can re-record the payment for the correct patient using your usual payment workflow.
Jane Payments - Option 1: Refund
If you entered a credit card payment and processed it under the wrong patient using Jane Payments, one option is to refund the payment back to the credit card and then reprocess it under the correct patient.
Heads up! Jane Payments doesn’t charge any fees for refunding a payment, but you will be charged a processing fee again when you run the credit card for the second time under the correct patient. Just something to keep in mind as you consider your options.
To refund the payment, start by heading to the incorrect patient’s profile and navigating to Billing > Payments. Click View on the payment to open the payment panel.
If the payment has been applied to an invoice, you’ll need to unapply it first by clicking the broken chain icon.
Once it’s unapplied, click Refund $X to process the refund back to the original credit card.
Jane Tip: Don’t forget to remove the credit card from the incorrect patient’s profile. It may have been saved there when the payment was originally processed, and removing it helps avoid future errors.
Jane Payments - Option 2: Transfer payment with a gift card
Another option, if you processed a credit card payment under the wrong patient, is to use a gift card to transfer the payment from one patient to another.
Start by heading to the incorrect patient’s profile and navigating to Billing > Payments. Click View on the payment to open the payment panel.
If the payment was applied to an invoice, you’ll need to unapply it first by clicking the broken chain icon. Then, close the payment panel, this will leave the payment unapplied so it moves to the patient’s account as a credit.
Next, go to the Gift Cards tab in that patient’s billing and click New Gift Card.
You’ll need to enter a gift card name that’s at least six characters long, or you can click the generate a fresh number link to have Jane create one for you. Then, click Next to continue.
On the next screen, enter the amount you’d like to load onto the gift card, the same amount that was incorrectly processed under this patient. Click Next again to move to the final step.
To complete the process, make sure to use the Account Credit $X to Pay for the gift card. This clears the credit from the incorrect patient’s account and loads it onto the gift card.
Now that the gift card has been created, you can redeem the gift card when processing payment for the correct patient, allowing them to use the original funds that were processed under the wrong account.
Charted under the wrong patient
If you’ve charted under the wrong patient, whether the chart is still a draft or already signed, you can move the chart to the correct patient’s profile.
In the open chart note, click the settings cogwheel (⚙️) in the bottom-right corner and select Change Patient.
Use the search bar to find and select the correct patient.
To confirm, click OK.
The chart will now appear under the correct patient’s profile, along with a timestamp showing when it was moved and by whom.
Heads up! If the chart was signed and locked, Jane will add an amendment noting that it was moved to another profile. If it was still a draft, no amendment will be added, and you can sign and lock it as usual in the correct patient’s profile.
Scheduled an appointment for the wrong patient
If you accidentally booked an appointment under the wrong name, don’t worry, there are a couple of quick and easy ways to fix it.
Option 1: Cancel and rebook
The simplest option is to cancel the appointment under the incorrect patient and rebook it under the correct one. This also ensures both patients receive the appropriate notifications, cancellation for the original booking and confirmation for the new one.
Option 2: Use the “Change Patient” button
If nothing’s been paid or charted yet, and you don’t need to send out any notifications, you can just update the appointment directly without needing to cancel.
To do this, start by opening the appointment, either from the Appointments section of the patient’s profile or directly from the Schedule. If the appointment has already been marked as Arrived, you’ll need to click the green Arrived button to unarrive it first.
Next, in the Booking Info section, click the pencil icon to edit the treatment details.
From there, click Change Patient in the top-right corner, then search for and select the correct patient. When prompted, confirm the change by clicking Yes, Change Patient.
We hope this guide helped you get things sorted! Mistakes are bound to happen now and then, and it’s reassuring to know there are simple ways to make corrections when they do.
Need help?
If you’re ever unsure about how to fix something, feel free to reach out to us. Our team is always happy to walk you through it.