Fee Categories are primarily used to identify the funding nature for a patient's services but also have several other benefits, including:
Setting different rates for the same Item Code per Fee Category
Configure Appointment Type default preferences per Fee Category
Filtering report results by Fee Category
Typical Fee Categories in the allied health space include:
Private
Medicare Bulk Bill
Medicare Fee + Gap
DVA
Workcover
Concession
Family & Friends
NDIS Self Managed
NDIS Plan Managed
NDIS Agency Managed
No Charge
Choosing a Patient's Fee Category
A patient's primary Fee Category is set on the main tab of their file, as shown below.
It's also possible for a patient file to have multiple Fee Categories, which is ideal if a patient moves between funding sources. For example, if the patient initially presents with a Medicare referral but moves to private funding once they have used all sessions on their Medicare referral.
In this example, you can enable the Fee Category override within an individual Account on the patient file.
A patient's Fee Category is also visible on the Appointment Details screen and on the Invoice screen.
Fee Category does not update automatically. Once set — whether via the default described below, or manually — a patient's Fee Category stays as-is until someone manually changes it on the patient file's main tab or on the relevant Account. It does not change automatically when an appointment type changes (for example, moving from a "New Patient" appointment type to a standard follow-up type), and there is no automatic trigger that updates it based on appointment activity.
Creating and managing Fee Categories
Step 1:
Step 2:
Select Edit
Step 3:
Select Add to add a new Fee Category
Step 4:
Enter the name of the new Fee Category.
Type the name of the Fee Category into the name field. Enable the Include GST option to automatically add GST to items billed for patients with this Fee Category.
GST Override
There are three options that can be set that determine the GST behaviour when billing against the Fee Category:
Default: The Include GST setting on the Item Code's page will be respected
No GST: No GST will be applied to the Item Code.
All GST: All Items will have GST applied.
We generally recommend leaving the GST Override set to Default and set GST on a per Item Code basis.
Default Fee Category
The Fee Category that will be assigned by default when creating a new patient file will be whichever is at the top of the list. It is a good idea to put the most commonly used Fee Category at the top to minimise how often you need to set it manually.
New patients created via Online Booking are a special case. The "whichever is at the top of the list" default above applies to patients created through reception or other channels. A brand-new patient who books for the first time through your own Online Booking page instead gets whichever Fee Category is set as the Guest Fee Category under Settings > Online Booking (General section) — this can be a different Fee Category to the one at the top of your list, so it's worth checking this setting reflects what you actually want new online-booking patients assigned. This only applies to genuinely new patients; an existing patient booking online through their own account keeps their existing Fee Category as normal.
Re-ordering Fee Categories
To re-order the Fee Categories, click Edit at the top of the page.
While in edit mode, mouse over the Fee Category you wish to re-order and use the drag handle on the left-hand side to drag and drop it to your preferred position.
