1. Can products be added to the fee sheet (alongside services) and have payments applied to them like services can?
It appears that they can’t. The products don’t appear in the allocation screen, only the service. Additionally, the products seem to break the fee sheet layout: that checkbox under Auth is actually for deleting the product. This occurs in the official demo as well, which seems to suggest that the code isn’t stable for using products this way.
Interestingly, our demo seems to have some custom configuration work to it to work around this problem. A new type of code was made called PRODUCTS; the product in the inventory has its Related To field set to this service. Now there are two dropdowns for Products, one showing the service from Administration > Services and the other showing the product from Inventory > Management. (Can’t link to an image because sourceforge thinks it’s spam)
This makes the product show up in the Payments screen properly. The person who set this up wasn’t a programmer and may have been following some sort of official billing guide in order to map products to services and make them billable.
2. Is there some sort of official workaround to the products problem by using services this way?
This shows the fee sheet with a payment and a server and the Payment allocation screen only showing the service:
This shows the custom configuration that was done with two product dropdowns, the one on the left for the PRODUCTS service/code and the right for actual products.
"I created “generic” CPT codes to allow ECS To charge patients for items in which we would not bill insurance co for. This sounds like a process which would work for the “product issue”. Instead of creating a “new” service type named “products”, they could’ve just created “generic” CPT codes. For example, we currently charge for medical records processing fee of $15. I created a “generic” CPT4 code 00005 with description “medical records fee” with $15 standard fee. This allows me to create a medical records charge on the fee sheet & post payment in the payment grid just as with any other personal payment.
I hope this suggestion is helpful. It works well for ECS."
There is support for products and inventory in OpenEMR, however it was never integrated smoothly with insurance. In addition it may be that some developers have put in enhancements to OpenEMR without making appropriate changes related to this product support.
Bottom line, I don’t think “customizing” anything is the right answer. It sounds like some things are broken and need to be fixed by a professional developer.
I think customization may provide solutions to meet specific needs of some users and does not necessarily have to be included in the “official” code release. However, in the spirit of “open source” such customization should be made available and integrated as “optional” module for use by those who may need it or wish to improve on it.
Products can be added to the Fee Sheet and payments can be applied to them without any special tricks. There is a more “natural” way to do it without creating any special CPT codes. Yes, you won’t see products in the Batch Payments Allocation screen. But you can use the traditional invoice subsystem. After entering products in Fee Sheet, when it’s time to apply patient’s payment do this:
Open Patients -> Visits -> Visit History, switch to the Billing View and click any code to open ‘EOB Posting-Invoice’ page.
Enter the patient’s payment to the Pay ‘box’ in the product (PROD:N) line of the invoice. Click radio button "Now posting for’ Patient and then hit ‘Save’.
Reload the Visit History. You’ll see the payment applied to the product and the balance adjusted accordingly.
We use version 4.1.2(4) but I could replicate it in the official Demo. I’ve made some screenshots but don’t know where to post them.
Hope it helps.
Would suggest using HCPCS codes instead of fictitious CPT codes. This way whether self-pay or insurance submission, it would not matter.
The entire data set will incur a cost, so use a coder picker for the handful that you need.
Payment posting is fairly straightforward. In the split screen, after choosing a patient; the Patient Summary will be on top & the Visit History will be on the bottom.
Follow the rest of Alex’s post. Screenshots are not absolutely necessary, but they can be supplied if you’re stuck.
Cannot see why any special codes (CPT or HCPCS) might be necessary. If you maintain your inventory you will see medications in the ‘Products’ dropbox of the Fee Sheet.
Why not ADD your sales products into their own type Set of Codes for the Fee Sheet?
Administration => List => Code types => “Other product” just below RXCUI.
Under Key: OPROD
ID: 10
Label Products
Seq: 110 or wherever you want this in your list
ModLength: 0 (I made it 0 because I don’t expect you want a modifier code)
Claims: V
Fees: V
V for procedures and V for Diagnosis V for Drug, if you want it to be shown under these items.
Save
Click Active, Click SAVE
Go to Administration -> Code -> Click on Other Products
In first row Click Type -> Other Products
With the you desired FEE, Click “Add as new”
If needed Click Edit, make changes, Click Update
Now it should be ready to use in your fee sheet. You may have to make some minor changes so it fits your needs.
Long lists with these “Other Products” can be loaded with CSV in Data base
Hope this adds to solve your question otherwise neglect this as not needed.
