Why is our billing process cluttering up SQL-Ledger with a separate parts/services item for each CPT and ICD-9 code?
This seems unnecessary and messy, as the invoice line items themselves have descriptions (in the invoice table) that can be used for this.
Seems like it would be enough to use a single services item (in the parts table) called something like "medical services", and put the procedure/diagnosis codes with their descriptions in the invoice line items. Can anyone think of a reason I should not change this?
I am not as familar with the SQL-Ledger tables but what you are suggesting seems reasonable.
The CPT and ICD-9 codes will be upgraded-maintained frequently (usually quarterly) and having a separate table I would think would help improve maintainability.
Though I think of ICD-9 codes and CPT codes as very different collections and would normally respresent then as separate tables.
HCPCS codes are a separate collection of items but function much more as CPT codes. A separate table for HCPCS may also improve maintainability.
I have modified sql-ledger.conf and bin/ws_server.pl so that a single services item (which should be created in advance - see comments in sql-ledger.conf) is used for the billing line items, instead of creating a separate item in the "parts" table of SQL-Ledger for each billing code.
Also I fixed a couple of other bugs with the same checkin: an incorrect entry in the integration_mapping table when adding a provider, and some possible aborts due to exceeding maximum field sizes when patients are added or updated.