Overview

Time-Based Charging will allow patients to be invoiced:

• for the amount of time they spend on a Work List
  This can be used to improve charge capture as it removes the need to manually calculate a charge based on patient visit times.
   
• a 'flag-fall' product, when they a transferred to a Work List
  This can be used to charge an admission fee for example.

A Work List may have multiple charging configurations, to reflect the complexity of the case. E.g, there might be configurations for:

• Surgery - Simple
• Surgery - Moderate
• Surgery - Complex

Charging will be triggered:

• when a Task is transferred to a Work List
  The user will be prompted to select from the available configurations.
  If the configuration has a 'flag-fall' product, this will be invoiced.

  The selected configuration will determine which time-based charge to apply.
   

• when Check-out is performed from a Task

  A prompt will be displayed e.g.

          The following charge will be invoiced: Hospitalisation Fee - 12

• when a Task is transferred to a different Work List
  A prompt will be displayed e.g.

          The following charge will be invoiced: Hospitalisation Fee - 12

  If the new Work List is also configured for charging, the user will be prompted also.

  Pressing OK performs the transfer and invoices the charge. This will display the Visit Editor if the charge displays pop-ups.

  Pressing Cancel cancels the transfer.
   

• Periodically
  Charging can be configured so that a new charge is added periodically, when the configured interval expires. This can be used to better inform customers of their current bill, rather than waiting for Check-Out

The following rules apply:

• Charging will only occur if the Task is In Progress
• The time that a patient spends on the Work List determines the quantity charged. This time resets:
  • when they are transferred to a different Work List
  • each time they are charged, if period charging is configured

Check-Out

At Check-Out, a prompt wil be displayed if a Task exists for the patient that is on a Work List that attracts a charge, and is not the one being checked-out from. For example if the patient is on a hospital Work List that attracts a periodic charge, but Check-Out is performed from the appointment, this gives the user the option to bill and complete the Task.

Configuration

Charging will be configured by attaching one or more Work List Charges to a Work List. If multiple Work List Charges are available, the user will be prompted to select the appropriate one.

A Work List Charge will contain:

• Flag Fall product
  A product that is charged whenever a patient is added to the Work List.
  E.g, an Admission Fee, or IV Catheter
• Recurring product
  This product is charged based on how long the patient spends on the work list.
• Interval
  Determines how often the the Recurring product is charged e.g. every:
  • 15 minutes
  • 1 hours
  • 12 hours
• Periodic Charging
  A flag to indicate if charging should be done periodically, or in bulk.
  When charging perodically, a separate charge will be added each time the interval expires. This will be limited to intervals of not less than 1 hour.
  Any remaining time will be charged on transfer or check-out.
  When charging in bulk, a single charge will be added for the total time that the patient is on the Work List.

   

A Template product may be used for both the Flag Fall and Recurring products.

Specifying a Template:

• enables multiple products to be charged
• supports Location-based pricing via the Practice Use Location Products option
• supports weight-based product inclusion
• supports patient doses

If the Time Based Product Templates project is implemented, it will also allow different products to be charged based on when the patient is transferred to the Work List.

Quantity Calculation

The quantity charged is calculated based on the elapsed time that the patient spent on the Work List, rounded to 1 decimal place.

E.g., given a patient spending 95 minutes on a Hospitalisation work list, the following would be charged for the intervals:

When periodic charging is configured, a charge of quantity 1 is added each time the interval expires. The interval remaining at transfer or check-out will be charged as above.

Charging Mechanism

Charging will be done via Customer Orders, to avoid multiple threads/users updating an invoice concurrently. A new Customer Order type will be required, in order to support product templates.

Changing Charges

A Change Work List Charges button will be available in Workflow - Work Lists to change charging for the selected task.

This can be used if a patient needs to have their recurring charges changed (e.g. level of hospitalisation needs to be upgraded).

This:

• prompts the user to select the new Work List Charges
• prompts the if they want to bill any unbilled charges at the old rate, or the new rate

Note that any:

• periodic charge that has already been applied will not be updated to reflect the new Work List Charge
• Flag Fall charges applied previously need to be manually removed if they are no longer applicable.

Stopping Charging

A Stop Work List Charges button will be available in Workflow - Work Lists to stop charging for the selected task. It will not stop any charges that have already been generated.

This will prompt the user if they want to bill any outstanding charges.