Recurring Charges and Rate Changes

Recurring Charges account for the majority of revenue, and they are invoiced to residents automatically on a monthly basis according to your financial agreements. If there is a planned service change or you need to prepare for a resident move-out, ALIS provides an efficient way to add rate changes and end services before the affected invoices are generated.

Configuration Considerations

This guide refers to the Impact Review and Billing Items, both of which can which can be configured in your Billing Settings. It is recommended to enable the Impact Review as it can help your whole team invoice new charges and changes to recurring charges. 

Impact Review

To ensure the Impact Review produces accurate results:

• Verify that Billing Items are configured with the correct Type and Category.
• Ensure Care Levels and Room Types are properly linked to billing items in Billing Center settings.
• Confirm recurring charges are accurate before enabling Impact Review automation.

For more information, see Impact Review in the Resident Profile.  

Billing Items 

Recurring charges are added to the resident profile by selecting from a list of Billing Items. It is important to know the Billing Items available at your community and to establish a clear policy on which items are allocated to which residents. 

Billing Items for recurring charges are typically Rent and Care charges, though your organization may bill for these as one all-inclusive charge or itemize services 'a la carte'. 

For more information, see How to add and manage Billing Items. 

Add Recurring Charges

Adding recurring charges to a resident profile is a common part of the move-in process. For a full overview of move-in billing, see Billing for Resident Move-Ins.

Follow the steps outlined below for proper setup of recurring charges:

1. Set up Default Payer(s)

Before adding recurring charges, verify the resident's Default Payer is configured. The payer attached to a recurring charge determines who receives invoices and who can submit ACH payments. 

For more information, see How to Add and Manage Payers.

2. Review the Recurring Charges section 

Navigate to the resident or applicant's Billing section and expand the Recurring Charges blue bar. 

Review the following:

• Current Care Level and Fee: Based on the most recent Evaluation and Service Plan completed in ALIS. The Care Level may have no associated fees, or you might use this value to determine the resident's monthly care charge. Note that you will need 
• Estimated Next Period Fees: The expected charges for the next billing period based on active and future charges. 
• Recurring Billing Status: If Active, an invoice will run on the Next Recurring Date. Click Pause to prevent the next invoice from generating, or Change to update the Next Recurring Date.

3. Add a Recurring Charge

1. In the Active & Future tab, click +Add Recurring Charge. 
2. In the pane that opens, select the Payer Type, Payer, and Billing Item. 
3. Add a description if needed, confirm the Service Start date, and verify the Price. 
4. Click Submit. 
   • If Impact Review is enabled, a pop-up appears to allocate the charge to an invoice:
     • Set Action to Add Charge and To to Create New Invoice to generate a move-in invoice immediately.
     • Set To to Future Invoice Charges to include the charge on the next auto-generated invoice.
5.  Repeat for any additional recurring charges. In the Impact Review, set the To menu to the previously created invoice or to Future Invoice Charges.

If Impact Review is not enabled, no pop-up appears and invoices may need to be created manually. Refer to Billing for Resident Move-Ins for manual invoice creation steps.

4. Edit Recurring Charges

To edit or delete a recurring charge, click Options on the applicable charge. 

Editing a charge impacts historical recurring charge reports within the charge dates but does not affect previously generated invoices. 

4. Regenerate a Recurring Invoice

With the Impact Review enabled, this action may not be needed. 

To regenerate a recurring invoice directly from the resident profile:

1. In the Billing section, expand the Invoices blue bar.
2. Click Create Invoice > Recurring.
3. In the pop-up, set the invoice date and verify the payer type and charge details.
4. Click Create Invoice(s).

Add Rate Change 

Use a rate change when only the price of a charge needs to be updated. Scheduling a rate change automates charge allocation for invoices generated on or after the change date.

1. Click Options > Add Rate Change on the applicable charge.
2. In the pane that opens, select the Rate Change Service Start date.
   • Set in the future to schedule, or in the past to backdate.
3. Enter the new Price.
4. Click Submit.

If Impact Review is enabled, it automatically generates a prorated credit for the old rate and applies the updated rate to the applicable invoice.

Bulk Rate Changes

Bulk rate changes allow you to update pricing for a specific billing item across multiple residents at once. Bulk rate changes do not include an Impact Review; adjustments to already-generated invoices must be made individually from each resident's profile.

1. Navigate to Billing > Bulk Imports > Bulk Recurring. 
2. Click Add Rate Change and select the applicable Billing Item and residents. 
3. Select specific residents from the Resident dropdown menu or leave the filter set to 'All.' If set to All, you can remove individual residents who might be exempt from the list in the next step.
4. Add an optional Rate Change Note for the audit log. 
5. Click Add Rate Change to proceed.
6. On the next Add Rate Change page, review the resident list:
   • Click the red X to remove any exempt residents.
   • Use Bulk Edit to apply the same rate to all residents, or scroll right to set individual rates and dates.
7. Click Submit to confirm. 

View Rate Change Details 

Back on the Bulk Recurring Charges page, click the "+" next to the month/year to expand audit options. Click View to review per-resident audit details.

Edit Recurring Charges

To edit bulk rate changes historically, use the Edit Recurring Charges button. This does not impact previously generated invoices; past changes are reflected in the Recurring Charges report only. Invoice updates must always be made individually.

End Service

Use End Service to schedule a service end date ahead of time. When a service is ended before it has been invoiced, ALIS prorates the charge through the end date rather than billing the full amount.

1. In the Recurring Charges section, click Options > End Service on the applicable charge.
2. In the pop-up, enter the Service End Date and click End Service. 
   • If the charge has pending future-invoice charges, an info banner displays in the End Service modal: "This service has future invoice charges that may be removed or updated through an impact review to reflect the end date." These pending charges are removed and the Impact Review proposes correctly prorated charge(s) covering the uninvoiced period up to the end date. Deleted charges and any new prorated charges are recorded in the audit.
   • If Impact Review is enabled, it calculates any necessary credits to existing invoices based on the end date.
   • Even without Impact Review enabled, always click End Service to document the end date for reporting and to prevent future invoices from generating. 

💡Best Practice: End Service for all recurring charges when closing out a resident's billing, even if no future invoices are expected. This ensures billing is properly closed and locked.

Related Articles:

• Impact Review in the Resident Profile
• ALIS Monthly Invoicing
• Billing Settings

For more assistance: 888.404.ALIS (2547)  |  support@go-alis.com