Invoicing
ePractice | Sending an electronic invoice using Advanced Bill
This option can be used to send an electronic or paper invoice and allows you to see all the details on a single page, rather than separate ones for each step. We would recommend using Quick eBill to create electronic invoices.
You can access Advanced Bill from many places.
- From the Patient List click Create Bill on the right in the Patient Details Preview when a patient has been highlighted
- From Patient Details click Create Bill on the right-hand side of the page
- From Patient Details click Insurer tab and then click Bill Insurer
- From Patient Details click Contacts tab and then click Bill Contact
From Select Payor you will first need to select the card for the person or organisation you want to send the invoice to. If you are registered to use Online Payments the cards for the patient and any other contacts will display the patientzone logo. If you want to use this method, it is better to raise a Quick eBill.
Search for the patient by typing in their first or last name and a list of matches will appear. Click the correct one – if there’s a long list just scroll through. You can also search by their date of birth. Again, a list of matches will appear and you just click on the correct one.
Click Advanced Bill to open the page. There are three tabs – Episode and Invoice, Patient and Bill To and GP Details – but only the first one needs to be completed.
The Episode and Invoice section is split into four parts: Episode Details, Invoice Details, Diagnosis and Add/Edit Charges.
Episode Details
- Setting – choose the care setting from the drop-down options e.g. outpatient, day case, inpatient etc.
- Treatment Site –choose the location from the drop-down options available
- Admit Date – only visible when the care setting chosen is Inpatient or Daycase
- Discharge Date – only visible when the care setting chosen is Inpatient or Daycase
- Controlling Specialist – choose the practitioner who saw the patient from the drop-down options available
- Discharge Reason – choose from the drop-down options; this is only visible when the care setting is Inpatient or Daycase
Invoice Details
- Claim / Auth No – available when you are sending to an insurer; either enter the claim number or pre-authorisation number provided, available when the insurer has given prior authorisation for the treatment to proceed
- Invoice No – an invoice number will automatically be generated using system or custom numbering (if this has been setup) if this is left blank; you can, however, override this and type something in
- Invoice Date – defaults to today’s date but can be changed
- Notes – only available for paper invoices; any notes added can be seen when viewing the invoice but won’t be printed
Diagnosis
Only AXA Health, Bupa, Bupa Global and VitalityHealth require a diagnosis code. For all the others this section will not be visible.
Type a relevant word into the Diagnosis box and choose from the displayed list used by the insurer. As you create more invoices a list will be populated of your Top 10 codes. As a shortcut you can click this and choose from those options.
Once selected your choice will show as the primary diagnosis. You can add more if needed, which will appear as Other Conditions (Co-Morbidities). To change one of these to be the primary one, highlight it and click the blue arrow next to it.
Add/Edit Charges
- Service Dates – when the patient was seen; enter the first date and the To date will automatically be set to the same and will need to be changed if the care setting is Inpatient
- Setting – will default to what was selected in Episode Details
- Charge Item – the service provided to the patient e.g. Initial consultation, surgeons fee for surgery etc
- Service Provider – choose the practitioner or treatment site who provided the service from the drop-down options available
- Units – will default to 1 but can be changed
- Fee – add the fee; if you have set up a pricing matrix in Guideline Pricing simply click the calculator icon to automatically add this
- Procedure(s) – add in any procedures you carried out by searching by code or description; the Top 10 will display the ten procedure codes you have previously used most
If you need to invoice for multiple procedures you need to add all the procedures before adding the fee and saving the charge, ensuring this follows the insurer’s multiple procedures fee criteria.
Click Save Charge.
Once saved you can add further charges by clicking Add/Edit Charges and following the same steps. These can be for different dates. Saved charges will show on the Charges tab.
Finalising the invoice
Once complete the options on the next step will depend on the type of invoice required and what you want to do.
- Submit a paper invoice – click Save & Print
- Submit an electronic invoice to an insurer or patientzone – click Save & Send
- Save as Draft – this will save the invoice as a draft document and can be edited later from the Account tab in Patient Details, useful if you want to create invoices as you go along with the ability to add further charges before printing or submitting electronically
- Save For Review – this will save the invoice as a Task on the status page, useful for a second person to check or add further charges before printing or submitting electronically; invoice can be accessed from the left-hand menu by clicking Accounting and then Bills For Review
- Cancel – if you want to leave without saving the invoice simply click Cancel or Back to Patient and then click OK on the popup confirmation message
Want more support?
Our Service Delivery Associates at the Healthcode Academy offer practical and relevant modular 1-2-1 training on ePractice functionality. If you want to learn about all aspects of invoicing the Electronic billing & collection | Module 2 (60 minutes) is for you. For those who just want to focus on creating an Advanced Bill we offer a 15-minute bite-size option – you’ll need module 2C.
