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Overview
Removing an erroneous or duplicate payment
Deleting a payment is not supported in Elation Billing. To remove an erroneous or duplicate payment from your active books, you can clear it out using the workflow below. The payment record is retained for audit purposes but no longer affects claim balances or financial totals.When to use this workflow
Use this workflow when a payment was posted in error or is a true duplicate that should not affect any claim. If the payment was voided, reversed, or updated by the payer (for example, a recoupment or corrected ERA), use Posting Voided, Reversed, or Updated Payments instead.Prerequisites
- A user role with permission to edit payments and remove Superbills from a Payment.
- The Payment ID, Check #, or Payer name so you can locate the payment.
- Confirmation that the payment is safe to clear (not partially reconciled to claims you intend to keep).
Workflow instructions
Locating the payment
- Navigate to Payments → Payments.
- Search by check number, payer, payment date, or Payment ID.
- Open the payment you want to remove by clicking on the Payment ID.
Clearing out a payment
Remove all Superbills
If there are any Superbills on the Payment, delete them by clicking the trashcan icon.
- Removing a Superbill from the Payment unlinks it; the claim itself is not deleted and returns to its prior balance status. Re-attach the Superbill to the correct Payment if the original posting was simply applied to the wrong check.
Edit the payment details
- Click Edit button at the top of the payment.
- Set the Payment Amount to $0.
- Change the Check/Reference # to the word ‘Duplicate’** **(if ‘Duplicate’ has already been used for this payer, append a unique suffix such as Duplicate-2 or the original check number, for example Duplicate-12345).
- Leave the Payment Date, Payer, and Payment Method as originally entered so the historical record is preserved.
- Click Save.
Leave a Payment Note
- Click on the Payment Notes icon.
- Document why the payment was cleared (e.g., “Duplicate of check #12345 posted on 01/02/2026”).
- If Superbills were removed, add a Claim Note on each affected claim as well. This is the only audit trail for the change.
Can’t edit the Payment?
If your Elation EHR + Billing practice has the Patient Payment Workflow Update active, you may find you cannot edit the Payment Amount. In that case, refer to the guide on Activating Legacy Payment Workflow to temporarily deactivate the feature for the purpose of removing a erroneous or duplicate payment.Special cases
ERA-linked or auto-posted payments
If the payment was created from an ERA, clearing it does not remove the ERA file from your system. Remove the Superbills from the payment first, then edit the Payment Amount to $0 as described above. The ERA remains available for reference and re-posting if needed.Partially applied or reconciled payments
If any portion of the payment has already been correctly applied to a claim you want to keep, do not clear the entire payment. Instead:- Remove only the Superbills that should not have been on the Payment, or
- Use the Posting Voided, Reversed, or Updated Payments workflow to adjust specific line items using the Ignored field.
Identifying cleared payments later
To find previously cleared payments, search the Payments list for the Check # ‘Duplicate’ (or your unique variant). Cleared payments appear with a $0.00 amount and no attached Superbills.Impact on reports and patient statements
- Financial reports - Cleared payments display as $0.00 entries and do not contribute to deposit or revenue totals. The original Payment ID is retained.
- Patient statements - Because no Superbills are attached, a cleared payment does not appear on patient-facing statements or balances.