Procedure
Raise an invoice
Raise an invoice in Vault for a visit, pull in the charges that apply, and produce a clear bill the patient can review.
An invoice is a numbered bill that gathers the charges a visit has generated. This page walks the billing counter through raising an invoice in Vault, pulling in the charges that apply, and producing a clear bill the patient can review.
Before you start
Open the patient's account from the billing desk. You reach it by searching the site's admitted patients, so you have the visit in front of you before you raise anything.
The charges on the account
A charge is the billable consequence of an event, such as a bed night, a dispensed drug, or a completed test. Vault adds a charge to the account the moment a chargeable order is placed, so the charges accrue through the stay ahead of any bill.
Each charge carries the price that applied when it was raised. A later change to a rate card leaves the charge as it stood, so the bill reads exactly as the account earned it.
A charge holds its price
A charge captures the tariff in force at the moment it was raised. Raising the invoice gathers those charges as they stand, so the price a patient sees traces back to the day of the service.
The interim bill
Before you finalise, Vault shows the charges on the account as an interim bill. It is a live view drawn from the charges as they stand, so it moves with the account until you commit.
The interim bill shows the charge set, the tax breakdown, the payer split, and any deposit that applies. A charge is either clear and ready for the bill, or held back with an open query.
| Line | Charge | State |
|---|---|---|
| Ward bed, one night | INR 3,500 | Ready |
| Full blood count | INR 450 | Ready |
| Ceftriaxone, dispensed | INR 620 | Held, open query |
A held charge stays off the bill until you resolve it. Clear the charge once its query is settled, or leave it off and raise it on a later bill.
Raise the invoice
- 1
Open the account
Search the admitted patients and open the visit. The finance scene shows the charges, the running balance, and the interim bill for this account.
- 2
Review the charges
Read down the interim bill. Confirm every line belongs to this visit and carries the price you expect. If a line looks wrong, correct it at source before you go on.
- 3
Resolve any held charge
A charge with an open query holds itself off the bill. Select the charge, settle the query, and Clear it onto the bill. If the query stands, leave the charge off and raise it later.
- 4
Choose the bill type
Set the bill type to
in-patient,outpatient, orpharmacy. The type decides which numbering series the bill draws from. - 5
Check the tax and the payer split
The bill shows the tax breakdown and the split between what the payer covers and what the patient owes. Confirm the payer on the account matches the visit.
- 6
Finalise the invoice
Select Finalise. Vault does the whole step at once: it numbers the bill, locks its charges, applies any deposit the patient has placed, and posts the accounting entry. The patient can review the numbered bill straight away.
Finalising fixes the bill
Finalising is one whole step. The bill takes its number, its charges lock, and the number stays with the record for good. To correct a finalised bill, you issue a credit note against it rather than editing it.
After you finalise
The bill takes its number the moment you finalise, and numbers run in an unbroken series for the site. Any deposit the patient placed applies at this point, and Vault returns the leftover to them.
A finalised bill moves through a short set of states as money arrives against it.
A bill past its due date reads as overdue, worked out at the moment you view it from the due date on the bill.
Common questions
Can I edit a charge once the bill is finalised?
A finalised charge holds as it was raised. To correct it, issue a credit note against the bill, which keeps the bill number and records the correction as its own entry.
Why did one outpatient visit produce two documents?
Where a bill mixes tax-exempt and taxable items, Vault produces a bill of supply for the exempt items and a tax invoice for the taxable items. The counter shows both documents behind the one amount the patient owes.
What happens to a deposit at finalise?
A held deposit applies to the bill when you finalise, and Vault returns any leftover to the patient in the same step. Read how the counter takes a deposit in advance.
Related tasks
Read how a charge becomes an invoice in how a charge is created, and how the price resolves in the pricing waterfall.
Take the money against the bill you raised in take a payment.