Post Administrative Fees Without an Appointment
When you post charges for an appointment, you can also add fees and payments. You can also collect copays right in the Patient Check-In tool in PCC EHR.
But what if there is no appointment?
You may need to collect a fee or post other charges (and payments) that do not have an encounter.
Create a Billing Encounter to Bill a Fee
To bill for a fee of any kind, visit the Billing History in the patient’s chart and click Create Encounter to record an administrative encounter.
Follow the procedure below to learn how.
Open a Patient’s Billing History
Open the patient’s chart, click on the History navigation button, and select “Billing History”.
Click “Create Encounter”
After optionally reviewing the patient’s current billing history, click “Create Encounter” to create a new administrative encounter.
Select a Provider
Select a provider for billing. Charges require a provider.
Optionally Adjust the Place of Service or Date
You can optionally change the Place of Service and Service Date for the administrative encounter.
Select the Fee’s Billable Procedure and Adjust the Procedure Details
Find and select a billable procedure in the Procedures component. Your practice keeps a customizable list of administrative fees in your system’s Procedures table.
Many practices leave the default price of administrative procedures blank. You can then enter the price as you post the charge. You can also adjust units, the responsible party for the charge (the patient’s insurance policy or “Self Pay”) and enter a time-of-service discount.
What About Diagnoses? Will a Fee Require One?: Normally, a procedure requires a diagnosis. However, you can post an administrative fee without a linked diagnosis. In your practice’s procedures table, you can define all of your various fees and optionally set their default amounts. Any procedure that has a billing code with fewer than five characters will not require a diagnosis when you post charges. For more information, read Edit Your Practice’s Prices and Billing Procedure Codes.
Optionally Enter a Payment
Optionally select a Payment Type and enter a payment. You can adjust the payment to apply toward’s the fee you are entering or past due balances.
You can optionally click “Add Payment” to add more payments.
Optionally Generate a Receipt
Click the “Generate a Receipt” checkbox to ask PCC EHR to print a receipt as soon as you save the charges.
You can also return to Post Charges for this encounter later and generate a receipt.
Click “Save + Post” and Review the Charges
Click “Save + Post” to save the charges. The new administrative encounter will appear in the Billing History.
On the Billing History, you can see full details of the encounter, including which user at your practice posted the charge, the fees that were posted, and any payments.
Will Administrative Fees Appear on the Chart's Visit History?: Hospital charges, telemedicine visits, and other clinical encounters appear on the patient’s Visit History. Administrative encounters, such as a forms fee, do not appear on the Visit History and only appear on the Billing History.
Optional: Delete Items Posted in Error
As of PCC 8.15, use the Correct Mistakes (oops) tool to delete all diagnoses, procedures, payments and adjustments for a billing encounter without an appointment. Once you have deleted all items for an encounter, PCC EHR will automatically remove the encounter from the Billing History of the patient’s chart in PCC EHR.
Post a Payment Without Creating an Encounter
The procedure above shows how to create a billing encounter, and optionally post a payment.
What if you wish to post a payment without an encounter?
Read Post Personal Payments and Write Off Charges or watch a tutorial video to learn how to post payments.