Charges and payments

A charge records the encounter, service description, amount, and status. Clinical Coordinator manages the charge after care is documented. Draft, Approved, Invoiced, and Voided distinguish a prepared charge from one accepted for billing or removed from the active flow. The encounter link lets the coordinator review the patient visit before approving an amount.

Payments are patient records with a received date, amount, reference, and Pending, Confirmed, or Refunded status. Clinical Coordinator can view the payment record. A patient can have more than one encounter, so staff should use the patient identity and receipt reference carefully when reviewing collections. A payment record identifies the patient receipt; any invoice posting or processor settlement is a connection and reconciliation choice for the clinic.

• Service charge. Clinical Coordinator records a description and amount on the correct encounter.
• Approval. Clinical Coordinator reviews the draft and changes its status when accepted for billing.
• Receipt review. Clinical Coordinator reads confirmed and refunded patient payments against the patient record.

Agree who can enter a service charge and who checks the amount before Approved. Decide how service descriptions should be written so the person reviewing the visit knows what was charged. Define when the clinic uses Invoiced and how a Voided record is handled in the billing routine. The patient receipt reference should be a reliable way to find a transaction in the connected payment or accounting system.

Set a reconciliation routine for payments. Pending should remain distinct from Confirmed, and Refunded should retain its own state. Staff should not treat the presence of a receipt record as proof of settlement without checking the status and reference. When moving data into accounting, agree which system is authoritative for an invoice and which team investigates discrepancies.

A completed encounter has a service requiring a charge. Clinical Coordinator selects the encounter, writes the service description, enters the amount, and saves the charge as Draft. The coordinator reviews it against the visit before moving it to Approved. Once the clinic’s billing step occurs, the record can move to Invoiced. The reviewer can locate the original visit through the encounter link.

For a second case, a patient has two recent encounters and one confirmed payment. Clinical Coordinator uses the patient’s number and payment reference to review the receipt without assuming which encounter it settled. If money is returned, the coordinator checks the Refunded record and uses its reference to reconcile that outcome externally. If the charge was entered in error, the Voided status preserves its separate billing outcome.

• Charges Awaiting Approval — Review draft encounter charges by service and amount.
• Confirmed Patient Payments — Check received amounts and references for confirmed patient receipts.
• Encounter Status Board — Locate the visit stage before reviewing its charge.

See care billing and encounter intake.