Invoices and patient payments

Invoices are how you bill the patient directly — the copay, the self-pay visit, the retail item — as distinct from what you bill insurance through claims. Go to Invoices in the left sidebar to "review patient invoices and balances".

Invoice statuses

Invoices are grouped by status, each group with a count:

• Draft — created, not yet sent. Still editable.
• Sent — delivered to the patient, awaiting payment.
• Paid — settled.

Each row shows the patient, an invoice number (e.g. INV-00011), the amount, the balance due, the number of line items, and a date. A $100.00 due in red is an outstanding balance.

Creating an invoice

New Invoice in the top right starts one. Add the patient and line items — each a service or product with a price — and the total sums automatically.

The fastest, most accurate route is to raise the invoice from a completed visit rather than from scratch: the services charted on the visit become the line items, so the billing matches what was actually delivered. Building an invoice by hand is for the exceptions — a retail sale, an adjustment.

Sending and collecting

Once an invoice is ready, send it to the patient. Payment is collected through Stripe, so charges and payouts must be enabled first (Connecting Stripe) — without that, you can raise and send invoices but not take card payment on them.

As a patient pays, the invoice moves Sent → Paid and the balance clears. Outstanding balances roll up into Outstanding A/R on the Patients page and the Patient A/R report.

Invoices vs. claims

This is the distinction to keep clear: invoices bill the patient, claims bill the payer. A visit can generate both — a claim to the insurer for the covered portion, an invoice to the patient for the copay or the uncovered balance. They live in separate places (Invoices here, Claims in The claims queue) and settle through separate rails (Stripe vs. the clearinghouse).

Getting the split right matters: billing a patient for something insurance should cover, or vice versa, is the kind of error that generates complaints. When in doubt, check the eligibility result (Reading eligibility results) for what the plan actually covers before deciding which goes where.

Quotes

The patient record also has a Quotes section under Billing — an estimate given before treatment, which can become an invoice once the work is done.