Setting Up In-Progress Encounter Billing
The In Progress encounter status represents work or care that has not been completed and, therefore, is not listed in the accounts receivables. For example, you could use the status to represent orthotic or prosthetic devices for ongoing use or for prepaid patient care not yet administered. When NextGen® Enterprise PM users enter charges and transactions for an encounter in progress, those items contain blank process dates and, therefore, cannot officially be included in the financials or the receivables.
After a user creates an encounter with an in-progress status, a designated process can change the status from In Progress to Unbilled, which is the normal status for an encounter that has yet to go through billing and produce a claim. When the status changes to Unbilled, all charges and transactions entered for the In Progress encounter become posted, and the system sets the processing and closing dates on the transactions and charges. If there is a claim when the status is changed to Unbilled, the system automatically changes the status to Billed.
- Make the In Progress billing status available.
- Apply In Progress status settings for new encounters by doing the following:
- Setting the default status of new encounters to In Progress (optional)
- Setting security rights that allow users to set the status of new encounters to In Progress (optional)
- Apply Convert In Progress settings for encounters by doing the following:
- Making the Convert In Progress checkbox visible on encounters.
- Setting the security rights that allow users to select the Convert In Progress checkbox.
- Setting security rights that allow users to convert an In Progress encounter status to Unbilled status on demand and in a batch.
- Exclude In Progress encounters from budget plans (optional).
- Exclude In Progress encounters from statements (optional).
- Update Auto Create actions to exclude In Progress encounters (optional).
- Make the Encounter Status Change significant event available (optional).