Set Up Poverty Percentages and Categories

You enter federal poverty guidelines by creating poverty percentages and by assigning poverty categories to the percentages. Once poverty percentages are set up, you can add them to:

Patient Data Sheets and Fee Tickets in Practice Preferences > Data\Fee Ticket.
Forms and labels in the Form Templates and Label Templates master files.

To define poverty percentages, do the following:

Access File Maintenance.
Select System Master Files > Patient Responsibility.
The Patient Responsibility Maintenance window opens.
This window contains a table with columns and rows.
- If this is the first time you've opened the Patient Responsibility master file, the first column displays 100 in the first row for poverty percentage.
- The poverty percentages are entered in the first row across the top of the table.
- Poverty categories are listed in the second row.
- The family size, which is the total number of family members, is listed in the first column down the left side of the table.
- The family annual income is entered across the rows in the cells that correspond to the number of family members and the poverty percentages.
To turn on the Patient Responsibility alert, select the Display alert identifying a Poverty Schedule patient check box.
Use the up and down arrows in the Family Size field to set the number of family members range. The default for this field is 10, the maximum is 20, and the minimum is 2. This number determines the number of rows to display in the table. For example, if you set this field to 4, only four rows display.
Use the up and down arrows in the Nbr of Columns field to set the number of percentage factors that are used for calculating the poverty percentage. The default for this field is 1, the maximum is 20, and the minimum is 1. This number determines the number of columns to display in the table. For example, if you set this field to 5, five columns display.
Enter the income amounts in the first column for each family size row.
Enter the numeric poverty percentages in the cells of the first row across the top of the table from lowest to highest (left to right). You must complete all fields in the Poverty Percentage row.
When you enter a poverty percentage, the poverty percentage is multiplied by the federal poverty income value in each family size row in the 100% column. The resulting value displays in the corresponding row in the percentage column.
After you enter all poverty percentages and the corresponding income amounts have calculated, enter the corresponding poverty categories for each percentage in the Poverty Category row. The category fields accept up to eight letters and numbers.
Each category defines the maximum income amount for that category. If a patient’s income falls between two defined amounts and associated categories, the category used is the higher value. For example, Category A has a value of $10,000 and Category B has a value of $15,000. If patient’s income is $12,000 for a family of one, Category B is used.
If your practice also requires patient responsibility for the percentage of a charge, complete the Patient Responsibility Schedules setup.

Set Up Poverty Percentages and Categories

You enter federal poverty guidelines by creating poverty percentages and by assigning poverty categories to the percentages. Once poverty percentages are set up, you can add them to:

Patient Data Sheets and Fee Tickets in Practice Preferences > Data\Fee Ticket.
Forms and labels in the Form Templates and Label Templates master files.

To define poverty percentages, do the following:

Access File Maintenance.
Select System Master Files > Patient Responsibility.
The Patient Responsibility Maintenance window opens.
This window contains a table with columns and rows.
- If this is the first time you've opened the Patient Responsibility master file, the first column displays 100 in the first row for poverty percentage.
- The poverty percentages are entered in the first row across the top of the table.
- Poverty categories are listed in the second row.
- The family size, which is the total number of family members, is listed in the first column down the left side of the table.
- The family annual income is entered across the rows in the cells that correspond to the number of family members and the poverty percentages.
To turn on the Patient Responsibility alert, select the Display alert identifying a Poverty Schedule patient check box.
Use the up and down arrows in the Family Size field to set the number of family members range. The default for this field is 10, the maximum is 20, and the minimum is 2. This number determines the number of rows to display in the table. For example, if you set this field to 4, only four rows display.
Use the up and down arrows in the Nbr of Columns field to set the number of percentage factors that are used for calculating the poverty percentage. The default for this field is 1, the maximum is 20, and the minimum is 1. This number determines the number of columns to display in the table. For example, if you set this field to 5, five columns display.
Enter the income amounts in the first column for each family size row.
Enter the numeric poverty percentages in the cells of the first row across the top of the table from lowest to highest (left to right). You must complete all fields in the Poverty Percentage row.
When you enter a poverty percentage, the poverty percentage is multiplied by the federal poverty income value in each family size row in the 100% column. The resulting value displays in the corresponding row in the percentage column.
After you enter all poverty percentages and the corresponding income amounts have calculated, enter the corresponding poverty categories for each percentage in the Poverty Category row. The category fields accept up to eight letters and numbers.
Each category defines the maximum income amount for that category. If a patient’s income falls between two defined amounts and associated categories, the category used is the higher value. For example, Category A has a value of $10,000 and Category B has a value of $15,000. If patient’s income is $12,000 for a family of one, Category B is used.
If your practice also requires patient responsibility for the percentage of a charge, complete the Patient Responsibility Schedules setup.

Set Up Poverty Percentages and Categories

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