Unpaid Accounts, Reconciliation and Payment Disputes: Practical Activities

GP Staff Academy · Course overview · For practice managers and billing staff

This course helps the people who run a practice’s accounts work six Rivergum accounts from the bank deposit back to the service, say what the evidence proves, and give the practice manager a report she can act on. It covers what goes wrong at real billing desks: batch payments, claims running out of time, DVA and WorkCover rules, a missing assignment of benefit, room hire and the patient who says they already paid.

For you if…

You do the billing, reconcile the bank or approve the credits: the senior receptionist who runs the accounts, the practice manager, or anyone stepping into that role. Complete Medicare & Billing Conversations first, or bring equivalent experience. Lesson 4 is for everyone who answers the phone.

What you’ll practise

• Rebuild the service-to-payment trail and state the supported ledger balance.
• Match batch payments, remittances and EFTPOS settlements to invoices; chase claims before the one-year lodgement limit.
• Work out who owes what under WorkCover, DVA, bulk-billing and third-party rules.
• Discuss a balance or hardship without pressure; decide when a small debt is written off, referred or left alone.
• Correct claims without rewriting history, reconcile a day’s settlement and run the weekly review, including room-hire income.

How it works

Seven short case-based lessons, a workbook, and two automatically scored quizzes. Try each decision before opening the worked example. Allow about 50 minutes, including the assessments. Pass the knowledge quiz with at least 80% and the safety quiz with 100%; read the feedback and retry as needed. The final activity is practice with a checklist and does not affect your result.

The people and practice in this course are made up. This is professional development, not accredited CPD. Follow your own practice’s procedures where they differ from the defaults here.

Keep a one-page desk guide

Open the printable desk guides (PDF), page 10 and print just that page: three practical checks, a worked note and a common mistake.