Service Credits Rules - What they are and how to set them up

Article author
Rory
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What is the context and purpose of the article?


The Service Credits Rule is a billing rule which limits the number of times a service can be applied within a specified time frame. These can be used to offer patients free or discounted service/appointments over a renewable time period.

This article:

 

What is a Service Credit Rule?


The Service Credit Rule can best be thought of as a 'temporary' Provide Services Rule. So, if perhaps you add a Service Credit Rule that allows 1 'Initial Consultation' within a one year period, it will provide that appointment type to be selected for any patient that has not had an 'Initial Consultation' within the given period. Once a patient has their 'Initial Consultation', this pseudo Provide services rule disappears and the appointment type can no longer be selected.

 

An important point to note


An important note is that this rule does not work well with an actual Provide Services Rule. For example, if you have your above Service Credit Rule as the first rule on your chargeband, and a Provide Services Rule below it that does allow 'Initial Consultation'. The Service Credit Rule will be rendered obsolete, as it will not deny services, only not explicitly provide them. So if a patient has an 'Initial Consultation', the Service Credit Rule will no longer provide the appointment, but it won't deny it, which allows the Provide Services Rule to allow the appointment. You often do not want a Provide Service Rule and a Service Credit Rule on the same chargeband specifying the same appointments/services.

 

How to set up a Service Credit Rule - A walk-through example


To show you how to set up the feature, we'll step through a walk-through example. It will illustrate how customers who are part of a membership chargeband can receive 5 free consultations per year.

 

Step 1: Create a new chargeband for the patient group who will receive 5 free appointments


To do this:

1.1 Go to Admin > Billing Rules

1.2 Expand the record for the company where you want to add the rule

1.3 Click on + Add Rule

1.4 From the menu that appears, select New ChargeBand

1.5 In the Chargeband Details screen, add a Name for the ChargeBand

The new Chargeband is automatically saved.

Create_new_chargeband.gif

 

Step 2: Create and set up the new appointment type for the 'free' appointments


To do this:

2.1 Go to Admin > Appointment Admin

2.2 In the Appointment Types list, select the New button

2.3 In the New Appointment Type window that appears add in key details (such as NameDefault Duration, Clinical Form

2.4 Save the appointment type

The new appointment type is saved.

Create_a_new_appointment_type.gif

 

Step 3: Create and set up a price list for the 'free' appointments or services you want to offer


To do this:

3.1 Go to Admin > Billing Rules

3.2 Expand the record for the company where you want to add the rule

3.3 Click on + Add Rule

3.4 From the menu list that appears, select New Price List

3.5 In the Price List Details screen that appears on the right-hand side, add a Name for the price list.

3.6 In the Service Details panel on the lower right-hand side, select + Show All

3.7 Click on +Add next to Appointments

All available appointments are displayed.

3.7 Scroll through to the newly created Appointment type and input the value 0

3.8 In the top half of the screen, untick Provide services with prices? 

Create_new_price_list.gif

 

Step 4: Create and set up the new 'Service Credits Rules'


To do this:

4.1 Go to Admin > Billing Rules

4.2 Expand the record for the company where you want to add the rule

4.3 Click on +Add Rule

4.4 From the menu list that appears, select New Service Credits Rule

4.5 In the Service Credit Details screen add in a Name and First Included Day

4.6 Select Enable Periodic Renewal

4.7 In the expanded Periodic renewal panel, input a Years value of and a Maximum Periods value of 5

The value of Maximum period value of 5 will allow a maximum of 5 renewals (for 5 years).

4.8 In the Services to Credit panel select + Show All and find the appointment created in Step 2

4.9 In the field next to your selected appointment type input the number of credits you want to allocate to one patient for this appointment type in one year.

In this example by populating the box with '5', the patient has access to a maximum of 5 appointments of this type in 1 year. 

Set_up_service_credits.gif

 

 

Step 5: Add the rules to the membership chargeband


To do this:

5.1 Select the chargeband created in Step 1

5.2 In the Rules panel on the right-hand side click + Add rule...

5.3 In the Add Rule To Set dialogue that appears, navigate through the list and select

5.3.1 The Price List created in Step 3.

5.3.2 The Service Credit Rule created in Step 4

adding_rules_to_chargeband.gif

    Please note: The different features of the Service Credit Rules page are explained below.  

 

Step 6: Add this chargeband to any patients who are eligible for these free annual appointments


Now the chargeband has been created it is possible to link to patients who are eligible. To do this:

6.1 Go to Start > Find patient > [Select Patient]

6.2 From the patient record select Personal details

6.3 In the Account panel set the Billing Company

6.4 Select Charge Band created in Step 5

6.5 Then Save

 

Summary


So to summarise what we've done - we have created a new chargeband which we can assign to our patients, this chargeband will allow that patient to book 5 free appointments per year, the other appointments and services will still be available for them to book (as I have added other default price lists into that charge band).

 

What are the features of the Service Credit Rule page?


When you are creating or updating Service Credit Rules, there is a range of fields on the page. An explanation of these is summarised below.

Field/ Feature Explanation
Service Credit Details
Company The company to which the Service Credit rule belongs
Name The descriptive name for the Service Credit rule
First Included Day The date from which the service credit rule is valid
First Excluded Day The date from which the service credit rule is no longer valid.
Periodic renewal
Unique start date per patient When ticked, a unique start date for the service credit is applied for the patient, so they have their own renewal period for service credits.
Years The period in years when the service credit renews after they were added to the chargeband.
Months The period in months when the service credit renews after they were added to the chargeband.
Weeks The period in weeks when the service credit renews after they were added to the chargeband.
Maximum periods The maximum number of times a Service Credit rule can be renewed.
Service Credits Apply When...
Primary Doctor / Role is Enables the restriction of the Service Credit rule to a specific doctor. By default, this is unrestricted to Any doctor or role.
Site is Enables the restriction of the Service Credit rule to a specific site. By default, this is unrestricted to Any site.
Location is Enables the restriction of the Service Credit rule to a specific location. By default, this is unrestricted to Any location.
Tag is Enables the restriction of the Service Credit rule to a specific Billing tag for a session. By default, this is unrestricted.
Services to Credit
  Enables you to show services and define how many credits to define.

 

Review date


This article was last updated on 3rd December 2024