Who a Superbill Is For and Who Receives It
How case type, identified patient, and payer responsibility determine Superbill scope, PDF addressing, and delivery.
Before sending a Superbill, open the case’s Billing section, review its payer responsibility, and preview the draft PDF. Check Client and To separately: the person whose care is documented may be different from the person responsible for payment.
Follow the case, then the payer
A Superbill belongs to one case. A person paying for more than one case does not combine those cases into one Superbill. For a therapy group that bills each participant separately, the Superbill covers that participant’s eligible services within the group.
Then check the clinical identity and billing recipient
The person receiving care
The designated responsible payer, including someone outside the case; otherwise the document client
The selected identified patient, with that person's diagnosis details
The designated responsible payer, who may be a relative outside the case
Use that participant's attendance, invoice, and Superbill preference
Delivery follows the participant’s responsible payer, including a third party. Verify Client and To when they differ.
A relative or other third party is designated as the responsible party, without joining the case. To: third party’s name and address
Billing documents and their notifications go to that responsible payer. The clinical client or identified patient stays the same.
What the PDF labels mean
- Client identifies the person whose clinical details appear on the document. For couples and families, select the Identified patient in the case settings before enabling Superbills. Paying the invoice does not make someone the identified patient.
- To shows the resolved billing contact’s legal name and mailing address. For a case with one designated payer, PracticeRunner uses that payer as the billing contact, even when the payer is not a case member. Without a separate billing contact, it uses the document client.
- Responsible Party appears when the billing contact differs from the clinical client. It provides contact details for the person responsible for payment.
For example, a family case can identify a child as the patient and a parent as the billing contact. The child’s clinical details belong under Client, while the parent’s name and address belong under To. Likewise, a couple’s selected identified patient can differ from the partner who receives billing communications.
Keep payer responsibility up to date in the case. The person who happens to make a card payment, bank transfer, or reconciled bank payment does not automatically replace that responsibility.
When a third party is responsible for payment
A responsible payer does not have to be a member of the case. For example, an adult client’s aunt may pay for individual therapy, or a grandparent may pay for family sessions without attending them.
Add or link that person as a contact and designate them as the responsible party / billing contact for the case. For participant billing in a therapy group, designate the responsible payer for that participant. A relationship link by itself does not assign payer responsibility. Do not add someone to the case roster just to route billing to them.
With that responsibility configured:
- To shows the third party’s legal name and mailing address.
- Billing documents, including the Superbill, and billing notifications are routed to that responsible payer using their contact and delivery settings.
- Client still identifies the person receiving care, or the selected identified patient for a couple or family. The payer does not become the clinical client.
- The PDF’s Responsible Party section provides the separate payer’s contact details when they differ from the clinical client.
For example, if Maya receives individual therapy and her aunt Rosa is the designated responsible party, the Superbill is addressed To: Rosa and routed to Rosa. Client: Maya and Maya’s clinical details remain on the document. Rosa does not need to be a case member.
Billing responsibility does not by itself grant access to clinical notes, forms, scheduling, or unrelated cases. See Representatives, Billing Contacts, and Approved Helpers for those separate roles.
Therapy groups and separate payers
For groups with participant billing, enable Provide Superbills for each participant who needs one. Check that participant’s attended services and paid invoice. One participant’s payment or Superbill should not be treated as completing another participant’s services, even if the same person pays for both.
For a participant Superbill, the intended billing recipient is that participant’s designated responsible payer, who may be outside the group. PracticeRunner does not select every payer on the group roster or notify the whole group.
Separate-payer review: The current group workflow can use a participant’s designated payer to select paid services. Do not assume that selecting that payer also guarantees the participant’s clinical identity on the resulting PDF. Inspect Client, diagnosis details, To, and the intended notification recipient before approval. If the payer appears where the participant’s clinical details should be, leave the document as a draft and contact support. Do not send it as the participant’s reimbursement document.
See Therapy Groups: Attendance, Billing, Superbills, and Claims for participant eligibility and attendance rules.
Who receives the notification
For a case with a single designated billing contact, the Superbill notification follows that contact, including a third-party responsible payer who is not a case member. It is not automatically copied to every partner, family member, group participant, or linked contact. Direct email uses the recipient’s default email address, or the first available email address when no default is selected. A missing email address or Do not email setting can prevent direct email delivery; PracticeRunner does not simply send it to another case member instead.
Your practice’s email and secure-message settings determine whether delivery uses a secure portal conversation or direct email. The PDF’s To mailing address is not an instruction to send postal mail. Review portal and representative access separately from payer responsibility; being linked to a client is not a reason to assume access to every document.
A draft remains private to staff. Make available in portal approves it without a notification. Approve and send approves it and sends the notification through the configured channel. Neither action submits the Superbill to an insurer.
Before you approve
- Confirm the case, service month, and, for a group, the participant.
- Check Client, date of birth, diagnosis details, and included services in the PDF.
- Check To, any Responsible Party, and the recipient’s email or portal delivery settings.
- Confirm the client wants a Superbill for these dates, especially when you have just enabled Superbills.
- Approve the draft only after those details agree with the intended recipient and reimbursement document.
See Superbills for Insurance Reimbursement for creation, review, corrections, and monthly automation.