Charges and payments

A service charge belongs to an encounter. It carries a service description, amount and status from draft through approval and invoicing, with a voided state when the charge is withdrawn. The Clinical Coordinator can prepare a draft from the visit record. The coordinator checks the draft against its encounter before recording the reviewed charge status. Keeping the charge attached to the encounter helps the team trace why it was created.

A payment belongs to a patient rather than a charge. It records the receipt date, amount, reference and pending, confirmed or refunded status. Staff can review received money by patient and reference. Use the patient receipt reference and encounter charge trail to reconcile the clinic’s financial records.

• Charge preparation. The Clinical Coordinator records the service description and amount against the encounter.
• Approval. An Admin checks the visit and charge before changing a draft to approved.
• Receipt review. The coordinator can read the patient’s payment amount, receipt date and reference for comparison with the clinic’s collection record.

Agree what evidence the coordinator checks before recording a charge as approved. Define when an approved charge is ready to be marked invoiced and when a void is appropriate. Agree how the clinic will identify a payment reference from its collection system and how staff handle duplicate or uncertain receipts. The patient and encounter references should be checked before a status change, particularly when patients have several visits near the same date.

For a completed visit, the coordinator drafts a charge with the service description and amount. The coordinator checks the encounter and records the supported charge as approved. Once the clinic issues the invoice through its chosen process, the charge is marked invoiced. Later, a payment record for the patient shows the received amount and reference. The coordinator reads the receipt and compares its patient and reference with the clinic’s financial record.

Use a patient with two encounters and one payment. Create a draft charge on each encounter, mark only the one supported by the visit evidence as approved, and confirm the other remains in draft. Record the payment with its actual reference and receipt date. Check that the team can identify which patient received the payment and which encounter produced each charge. Rehearse a voided charge and a refunded payment record as distinct corrections.

• Draft charges — Check service, amount and encounter before approval.
• Pending payments — Review patient, amount, date and reference before confirmation.

Follow charge and payment review after encounter review. Plan financial connections in integrations.