Private Billing

If your health service operates fully or partially as a private business, enable the Private Billing module so that your health service can bill a patient privately.

Note: A standard activation fee applies. For more information, contact Communicare Support.

If your health service operates as a private clinic, you decide what fees to charge for the services you provide, and bill the patient directly for payment in full.

Some patients may be supported in paying their medical costs by third party insurers such as Medicare, WorkCover or their Private Health fund. Once they have paid for their clinic visit, they can claim and receive the relevant patient rebates for the services received, subsidising or covering all fees charged.

Charging private billing

When a clinician closes a clinical record, or service details are opened from the Service Recording, the Medicare tab is displayed

To change to private billing, on the Detail tab, set Claim Type to Private. This action changes the Medicare tab to the Private tab. See Private Billing for more information.

Managing private billing

To manage private billing invoices, select File > Private Billing Administration. See Private Billing Administration for more information.

A private billing invoice lists all items provided for a patient encounter that relate to a payer and the balance due. The 'Payer' field identifies who is going to pay for the service, that is, the individual or organisation who is responsible for the account, who may be different to the patient or recipient of the service. For all patients over 15 years of age, the patient is the default private payer. Update this default in Patient Biographics.

Payers for organisations must be included in the Communicare Address Book.

After a payment is made for the invoice, the payment received details are also displayed.

Private Billing Reports

To run reports on Private Billing Claims and Payments for any given date range, select Report > Private Billing.