Charges Panel
Introduction
Clinics, which don't bill insurance and have laboratory and dispensary services under one roof, will find this module helpful to enter charges and collect fees from one central location. It becomes superfluous to access the Fee Sheet, Billing Module or the Billing View of Past Encounters and Documents.
Setup
Codes
Service and diagnosis codes need to be added to Administration/Services in 4.1.1 or Administration/Codes in 4.1.2. Remember to include the fees to the service codes.
For the purpose of illustration, CPT codes will be used for services and ICD-9 codes for diagnoses.
Code Types will tell you how to import the codes into your local machine.
Demographics and Encounters
Patient demographic information is entered in the usual fashion. An encounter is necessary for the Charges Panel to function. The encounter is generated as usual.
Activation
The Charges Panel will be activated by going to Administration/Globals/Appearance, checking Use Charges Panel and clicking Save. Choose a patient, an encounter, then go to Fees/Charges.
Structure
The Panel is a triptych; wherein the left side panel contains Coding and Prescriptions; the central panel is the "Activity" panel and the right side panel is the Billing panel. From this triptych, charges can be entered, drugs can be dispensed, fees collected and receipts generated without leaving the Module. Bijou, n'est pas?
Sample Patient Flow
The best way to demonstrate the features of this nifty Module is follow a fictitious patient as he circulates through the equally non-existent Sanitas Clinic in Utopia.
Registration
Mr. Wilberforce Nemo is a new patient to Sanitas Clinic. He arrives at Reception and gives the nice young lady all the pertinent information. A new account and new encounter are created for him.
He pays the 10 dinars as Registration Fee and is told that at the end of his visit, a receipt will be issued to him.
Staff goes to Fee/Charges Panel to enter the Registration Fee charge and record the payment.
He is asked to proceed to the Consultancy.
Consultancy
At the Consultancy, Mr. Nemo is asked by staff the reason for his visit. Mr. Nemo said that he has had Polyuria and Polydipsia for the past 3 months with weight loss.
Staff determines that Mr. Nemo will require a Comprehensive Exam, collects the 75 dinars Consultation Fee and asked that he take a seat.
Staff looks up the code for the consultation and enters the payment.
Dr. Welby takes a detailed history and performs a thorough exam. He tells Mr. Nemo that the likely diagnosis is Adult Onset Diabetes Mellitus.
The nurse directs the patient to the Laboratories for bloodwork.
Laboratories
Staff draws a vial of blood for the Hemoglobin A1C and documents the charge and the fee of 10 dinars collected from the patient.
The patient is asked to take a stroll in the gardens to await the result of the test and to return to the Consultancy in 30 minutes.
Followup
Dr. Welby tells Mr. Nemo that the diagnosis of Diabetes Mellitus has been confirmed by the blood test. He tells the patient that he should proceed to the Dispensary for Metformin and a Glucometer.
Staff entered the charges for the two items and takes 25 dinars from Mr. Nemo.
The nurse instructs Mr. Nemo how to take the Metformin and how to use the Glucometer. She gives him a followup appointment and then directs Mr. Nemo to the Dispensary.
Dispensary
Staff in the adjacent area to the Dispensary sees the order for Metformin and the Glucometer on their laptop, enters the charges for both. Mr. Nemo pays the additional 25 dinars.
Staff justifies the charges with a diagnosis code and prepares the receipt for the patient.
They are pleased that the Fee Sheet and the Billing View of Past Encounters and Documents were automatically generated.
Home
Mr. Wilberforce Nemo is happy that the trip to Sanitas Clinic took only 6 hours, 5 of which involved traveling to and fro. Although 120 dinars is quite a sum for a farmer, Mr. Nemo thought it was money well spent because he will have more energy to tend to his animals. It was still daylight. Mr. Nemo gathered his 2 cows and 3 goats from pasture as the sun began to set.
