Post Encounter Charges in Partner

Post Charges in PCC EHR: Use the Post Charges features in PCC EHR to post charges, payments, and also adjust patient and encounter information.

PCC’s software suite still includes its previous charge posting tool, checkout, found in the Practice Management window. This program does not include all of the features you will find in PCC EHR.

This article contains the archived manual of the Partner Practice Management “Post Charges” program. For more help, contact PCC Support.

Quickstart: Use Practice Management to Post Charges

As an alternative to using PCC EHR, your billers can use the under-the-hood Post Charges tool in the Practice Management window. Read the procedure below to learn how to run the tool, review patient and account information, and post charges and time-of-service payments.

Your Experience May Differ: PCC’s programs and workflows are very customizable. Your practice can rearrange the order of the screens and customize the procedures and diagnoses that appear. Your office’s configuration will be different from the examples shown.

Understand When a Visit is Telemedicine

If your practice uses the Telemedicine features in PCC EHR, and you still prefer to post charges in Practice Management (instead of PCC EHR), you can see if an encounter is marked as Telemedicine in Post Charges (checkout).

Any visit marked as Telemedicine in PCC EHR will be indicated with a “(T)” next to the Place of Service field in checkout.

You can also configure a default telemedicine place of service for each scheduling location.

Change Billing and Attending Clinician in Partner

You can adjust which provider or providers will appear for an encounter on claims and bills. You may need a visit with provider A to be billed with provider B as the supervising physician, for example.

In PCC EHR, you can adjust the attending and billing physician in the Post Charges workflow. In the Practice Management window, you can adjust provider information for an encounter in the Charge Posting (checkout) program, and you can also change the billing provider in the Correct Mistakes (oops) program.

The Attending Physician Field in Partner checkout

When you post a charge, the billing provider is usually the provider scheduled for the appointment. The provider of service will appear in the upper-right corner of the charge screen:

On an insurance claim, the provider listed in this field will be both the provider of service and the billing provider. You can change the name on-the-fly, substituting it with any provider at your practice. This is normally done when one provider was scheduled for the visit but a different provider actually saw the patient or supervised the visit. Use an asterisk (*) to choose from a list of available providers:

The Billing Provider Field in Partner checkout

An optional “Billing Provider” field may appear on the checkout screen:

This field is usually configured to show the provider of service by default, but it can be changed on-the-fly. Using the two fields, you can input both a servicing and billing provider for each visit.

If you do not see the Billing Provider field on your screen, but would like to use it at your practice, contact PCC’s Software Support team. Or, your Partner system administrator can turn on the field in the Charge and Payment Posting section of the Configuration Editor (ced).

Default Values: The Billing provider field has several default options. Contact PCC for help configuring the field.

Customize Each Family’s Account Copay Note

When you post charges in Partner, checkout will tell you the patient’s insurance information, expected copay, and any custom copay note your practice added for the family.

You can edit a family’s custom copay note in the Family Editor (fame).

First, open the Family Editor and find the account.

Then page down to the Account Copay Note screen.

Press F6 – Modify Note to change the account copay note. Type the new message and press F1 – Save.

If this is the first time you have added a copay note for this family’s patients, you will need to press F4 – Post New Note instead of F6.

Use Snap Codes As You Enter and Update Charges

You can use a Snap Code in Practice Management’s Post Charges program to automatically select procedures and diagnoses.

What are My Practice's Snap Codes?: For information on creating a Snap Code, or to learn about reviewing your office’s Snap Codes in the Table Editor (ted), read Create or Edit a Snap Code.

Enter a Snap Code

While posting charges during checkout, enter a Snap Code in any procedure field on the charge posting screen. The procedures and diagnoses for that code will appear automatically.

You should review the procedures and diagnoses that appear, how they are linked, and check the number of units entered.

You can search for a Snap Code using the asterisk symbol (*) or by typing the first few letters of the code.

The search will find any Snap Codes before it locates procedures. Any matching items will appear if you are using an asterisk.

Snap Codes work great for procedures that always go together, such as supplies. You can also use Snap Codes to post most of an entire visit (and then make any additions or corrections).

Not Enough Room?

If the Snap Code causes the list of procedures to go off the edge of the page, you can review additional procedures by pressing F3 – Additional Procedures.

You can press F3 to toggle back and forth between the initial and secondary lists of procedures.

Can I Make Changes? Undo, or Re-Enter the Snap Code?

After using a Snap Code, you can make changes to any of the procedures or the number of units for each procedure.

You can also erase the procedures and diagnoses and begin again. Simply move the cursor to any field and press the End key to wipe out the contents.

Edit the Snap Code for Future Use

If you decide that a Snap Code needs an additional procedure to be useful, or you need to adjust the number of units that are selected automatically, you can edit your practice’s Snap Codes.

Any changes you make to the Snap Codes will not effect visits that are already posted.

Use Customizable Charge Screens

Your practice can customize the default lists of diagnoses and procedures that appear on the screen in Practice Management window. Computer screens are too small to display the hundreds of different procedures and diagnoses that you may perform, so checkout brings up a list based on the visit reason or other criteria.

Your practice’s custom lists of per-visit diagnoses and procedures are called “charge screens”.

Does Your Practice Use PCC EHR?: If your practice uses PCC EHR, you will see the clinician’s selected diagnoses and procedures on the Post Charges screen in checkout. Your front desk staff or biller can also select diagnoses and procedures by hand.

Sample Charge Screens

If a patient is scheduled for a sick visit, Partner can automatically display your practice’s custom “Sick” charge screen, which could include Otitis Media and other common sick diagnoses. For a well visit, you may have a Well charge screen that displayed 99393 along with immunization codes.

Here is a sample “Baby Well” charge screen from a PCC practice that incorporates both sick and well visit codes:

This screen displays the v20.2 Well Infant diagnosis code, along with Otitis Media as a sample common diagnosis. For procedures, the 99393 appears along with other handy procedures, such as the immunizations given to babies. The screen also has plenty of blank spaces for less common diagnoses and procedures that occur during a visit.

Many offices design a different Well Child screen for every age physical. That allows them to specify which immunizations appear, for example.

Automatic By Age: Partner can place the correct physical procedure for the child’s age on the charge screen automatically. Partner users should not need to hunt for the correct age-specific physical procedure code.

Here is a practice’s custom “Asthma Recheck” charge screen:

Edit Charge Screens

Use the Charge Screen Editor (csedit) to edit your charge screens or make changes to an existing charge screen.

You can run csedit from a command prompt or by selecting the csedit option from your Partner Configuration window.

On the main screen, you can select from your existing charge screens and press F4 – Edit Screen to make a change.

To learn more about csedit and editing charge screens, read “Add a SnapCode to a Charge Screen“.

ICD-9 and ICD-10: During 2014, Partner will prepare for the ICD-9 to ICD-10 migration by duplicating your existing charge screens and making new ICD-10 versions. When you run the csedit program, you will be able to switch between editing the charge screens with ICD-9 codes and ICD-10 codes by pressing F5 – ICD-10 csedit.

Partner Checkout Screen Reference

When you post an encounter’s charges in Partner Checkout (chuck), you can page up and down to see customizable screens for checking eligibility, updating demographics, and more.

Read below to learn about the functions and abilities of each screen in the Partner checkout process.

Navigation: As you check out a patient, you can press Page Up or Page Down or F1 to cycle through each screen. The order of the four steps in checkout can be customized, so you may see the screens differently at your practice. No matter what order the screens are in, you can always press Page Up or Page Down to cycle through each page.

Quit Checkout: You can press F12 to quit checkout at any time. No charges will be saved or billed. The other way to quit checkout is to save and post your charge by pressing F1 – Post & Print from the Payments Screen.

Patient Selection Screen in Partner Checkout

The first screen you will see when you run checkout is the Appointment List. To learn more about the patient selection screen in Partner, read Appointment Lists.

Demographics Screen in Partner Checkout

The Demographics screen in checkout contains basic information about the patient. You can press Enter or Tab to reach a field and make changes. Your changes will be saved when you continue to the next step by pressing Page Down or F1 – Next Step.

The function keys match those found in the Partner Patient Checkin (checkin) program. Use them to perform patient and account tasks. For more information, read Partner Patient Checkin.

Policies in Partner Checkout

The Policies page in checkout contains insurance information for the patient. You can add a new policy before posting charges. For information about insurance policies, read Update Patient Insurance Policies.

Check Eligibility in Partner Checkout

You can use the Eligibility page in checkout to review and check eligibility for each of a patient’s active insurance policies.

You can review and edit eligibility status and enter notes about eligibility for the appointment, review the Partner-summarized eligibility report (if available), or send a new request for information to the insurance carrier (if they participate in real-time automated eligibility).

Post Charges Screen in Partner Checkout

After you select an appointment and complete other optional checkout steps, you will see the Post Charges screen.

On the Post Charges screen, you can edit the appointment’s date, provider, place of service, diagnoses, procedures, and the number of units performed. Partner will fill out some or all of that information for you, either from information in the appointment record or from PCC EHR.

Function keys on the Post Charges screen open special screens for adding additional visit information or scheduling a new appointment.

Review and Update Visit Information

If an encounter was scheduled, checkout will automatically fill out visit information fields. For example, in the above image, PCC knows that Pebbles Flintstone is seeing Dr. Casey on November first for a Sick Call visit in the main office location.

If the patient has no appointment, or if the basic visit information has changed, you must fill out the Physician, Visit Date, Visit Reason, and Place of Service (“POS”) fields in order to post a charge. You can use abbreviations or the asterisk (*) to find entries quickly.

Supervising Physician: You can enter a supervising or “Billing” physician in addition to the primary physician for a visit. If a visit was scheduled with a nurse or an unaccredited physician, the “Billing” physician could replace or accompany the provider of service on the insurance claim. Contact PCC for assistance configuring these options, which can be set differently for each insurance company.

Similarly, you can enter or adjust the billing place of service. This defaults to the scheduled encounter location, but can be changed later in a chart note, or when the clinician sends the visit to billing, or in checkout. Note also that if a visit was marked as a telemedicine visit in PCC EHR, you will see the (T) indicator, which may inform other decisions you make as a biller.

Review and Enter Diagnoses and Procedures

You can use the Post Charges screen in checkout to review and update the diagnoses and procedures for a visit.

If a diagnosis or procedure is not visible on the screen, you can use abbreviations and asterisks to search for the item in any available blank field.

You can also enter diagnoses or procedure codes and Partner will look up the names for you.

Link Procedures to Specific Diagnoses

As you review and post charges, you should indicate which diagnoses apply to each procedure. A clinician or biller may have indicated that in PCC EHR, but you can also specify it on the Post Charges screen.

Enter the letters of each diagnoses into the fields next to the procedures they warranted. For example, the letter “h” is used to indicate why the Urinalysis procedure was performed:

You can link up to four different diagnoses to each procedure. A high-level sick visit, like a 99214, may need two or more diagnoses attached to it:

Other Features for Linking Diagnoses and Procedures

The Charge Posting screen in checkout has many other features for linking procedures and diagnoses.

• Snap Codes: You can type one of your office’s custom Snap Codes to automatically enter a set of procedures and diagnoses and link them. Learn how to setup and use Snap Codes in the Snap Codes guide.

• Skip The Diagnoses: You can save time while posting by simply marking procedures with the letter next to the diagnoses. In other words, you do not have to manually “X” off each diagnosis, just use the associated letter on a procedure and Partner will know what diagnosis you intend.

• Fix Diagnoses After Posting: Once a procedure is posted and saved, it is part of a patient’s financial and medical record. Diagnoses are more flexible. You can change which diagnoses appear on a claim and how they link to each procedure from the Visit Status screen in the Correct Mistakes (oops) program. After making such changes, you should re-batch the claim.

Set Multiple Procedure Units

The Units field in checkout indicates how many of each procedure will be billed. If you increase the number of units, you will see the corresponding charge for that procedure automatically increase in the Charge column.

In the above example, three “repeat” nebulizer breathing treatments were performed. When the unit number was changed from 1 to 3, the New Charge increased. Both the number of units and the final price will appear on the insurance claim.

Upper Limit: You can post up to 999 units of any procedure, matching the HCFA claim standard of three digits.

Copay and Discount Screen in Partner Checkout

After you enter diagnoses and procedures in checkout, press F2 – Copay & Discount from the Post Charges screen to open the Copay & Discount screen.

On this screen, you can:

• Enter a new expected copay amount for each procedure or erase the current expected copay. This may be necessary for insurance policies that have unusual copay rules.

• Assign a different Primary Payor to a charge. You can change the responsible party for a procedure to a different insurance policy. Leave the Primary Payor blank in order to charge the patient’s guarantor instead of an insurance plan.

• Enter a time-of-service discount for each procedure and change the discount type. Your office may mark down the cost of procedures for Professional Courtesy or other reason. You can enter a discount amount or a percentage.

  

  If you enter a discount on this screen, it will appear on the Payments screen.

When you are finished changing copays or other items on this screen, press F1 – Save to return to the Post Charges screen and finish posting the visit.

Automate The Copay: Many unusual copay rules can be automated. If an insurance plan requires a different copay depending on the OV or physical procedure, Partner can adjust the copay automatically. Contact PCC Software Support to learn more.

Dates and Prices Screen in Partner Checkout

After you enter diagnoses and procedures on the Post Charges screen during checkout, press F4 – Dates & Prices to change the provider for a specific procedure, enter service dates or hospital admission dates, or to change the price for a specific procedure.

The Dates & Prices screen shows the selected procedures along with fields for a provider initial, service dates, units, and the charge amount. At the bottom, you can enter Admit and Discharge dates for the visit.

• The “Prov” field on the left side of the screen will override the visit’s provider for the specific procedure.

• The contents of the Service Dates fields will appear on the insurance claim. Changing the service dates may automatically increase the Units field.

• The hospital Admit and Discharge fields will appear on the insurance claim.

• The New Charge fields will override the default prices for the procedures.

When you are finished changing procedure dates, hospital dates, or other items on this screen, press F1 – Save to return to the Post Charges screen and finish posting the visit.

Adjust Claim Information in Partner Checkout

Press F5 – Claim Info from the Post Charges screen to open the Claim Information screen.

The fields on this screen contain additional information that may be required for insurance claim submission. If the visit involves accident information, for example, it can be entered on this screen.

Your office may choose to enter or update claim information later, after a visit has been posted. All of the fields on this screen are also available on the Visit Status screen in the Correct Mistakes ([prog]oops[/prog]) program.

The function keys on this screen jump to specific fields, speeding up data entry. If your office regularly needs to jump to a specific field, you can select that field and press F8 – Set Jump Point. The checkout program will remember the field location and jump directly to it on subsequent visits to the Claim Information screen.

Enter Payments in Partner Checkout

After you confirm diagnoses and procedures, the next step of the checkout program is the Payments screen. The Payments screen displays the previous personal balance and the new personal charges. You can review any personal payments received before checkout, add a new payment, and confirm the New Personal Balance.

Wrap-Up Screen in Partner Checkout

When you press F1 – Post and Print from the Payments screen, checkout saves the information you have entered, may print a receipt or ask if you want one printed, and shows you a wrap-up screen. Once you see the Wrap Up screen, the visit has been posted and saved.

The wrap-up screen displays several simple-English messages: the new personal and insurance balances, and insurance and claim submission information.

You can perform a number of useful functions on the Wrap-Up screen.

Function Keys from the Wrap-Up Screen