Closing the Year in Dentrix

1. How do I close out the year? Are there special utilities or processes that I should run?

Dentrix does not require a special process for closing the year. All you have to do to close the year is to close the last month of the fiscal year. When you close the month (and, consequently, the year), current transactions and clinical notes are moved into history, account balances are aged, and insurance benefits are reset for those plans that need to be reset.

Keep the following in mind as you close the month:

• Create an up-to-the-minute backup of your practice data before you close the month. You can select the Appointment Purge option in the Close Out Month dialog box to delete old appointments in the Appointment Book and reduce the size of your practice database.
• Select the Reset Insurance Benefits option in the Close Out Month dialog box to automatically reset and renew patient insurance benefits and deductibles.

Watch the video to learn how to close the month.

• If you’re using G6.4 or any previous versions of Dentrix, click here.
• If you’re using Dentrix G6.5 or Dentrix G6.6, click here to learn how to close the month/year with the new Task Scheduler.

2. What do I do with outstanding insurance claims from the previous year?

After you close the fiscal year, Dentrix detects all pending claims created during the previous year. When you post payments or adjustments to claims from the previous year, you have the option to apply them to the previous year or the current year. This option appears in the Total Insurance Payment dialog box, and it defaults to the previous year.

3. Which reports should I run to analyze the previous year?

The reports that we recommend you run at the end of the fiscal year are the same reports we recommend you run after you close each month. When you close the last month of the year, run the reports for that month, and then run them again for the entire year.

• Practice Advisor Report - Office Manager > Analysis > Practice Advisor
• Analysis Summary Report - Office Manager > Reports > Management > Analysis Summary
• Practice Analysis Report - Office Manager > Analysis > Practice, then from the File menu, click Print Analysis
• Production Summary Report - Office Manager > Analysis > Practice > Reports
• Adjustment Summary Report - Office Manager > Analysis > Practice > Reports
• Payment Summary Report - Office Manager > Analysis > Practice > Reports
• Aging Report - Office Manager > Reports > Ledger
• Insurance Aging Report - Office Manager > Reports > Ledger

Following the recommendations in this article will help simplify the work of closing the year and save you some time to enjoy the holidays.

LEARN MORE

To learn more about closing the year, see the “Running the month-end update” and “Running the Month End Wizard” topics in the Dentrix Help, or visit the Dentrix Resource Center to view the “Year End Processes” webinar recording.

To watch an overview video of the Month End/Year End process, click here if you are using Dentrix G6.4 or any previous version, or click here if you are using Dentrix G6.5 or higher.