How Inventory & supply management helps billing in a hospital

Financial management in the healthcare sector is particularly important specifically for the patient. Medical procedures are pricey and definite accuracy is required when billing patients and managing the finances of a medical institution. The billing procedure after an operation can cause a certain amount of conflict if not clarified properly. There do not appear to be any fixed rules or format of how a bill should be presented. Transparency on all charges is fundamentally necessary to minimise disputes.  

The following list is not comprehensive but is intended to give an idea as to the many types of equipment and items that may be utilised in any given medical scenario.  

There are 3 classes or types of medical devices used in daily procedures. They can be classified as: 

1. Low to moderate risk devices: bandages, hand-held surgical instruments, push wheelchairs, manual stethoscopes, kits, etc. that require minimum level of control to use. 
2. Moderate to high-risk devices: surgical gloves, CPR aids, ultrasounds, etc. that require a higher level of control and knowledge to use. 
3. High-risk devices include pacemakers, deep-brain stimulators, and others. Devices that usually support or sustain life. They may be invasive or non-invasive and require a professional level of control and knowledge to use. 

Consumables are anything that is used on a one-time basis or discarded during the operation, sterilization, after-care, and so forth. As many as 50 to 60 pieces of medical items and pieces of equipment (it could be more or less) are usually ready for use in an operation theatre.  

Monitoring usage and decrementing of stock is essential for not only the hospital institution to be able to ascertain the financial management of that department but also for the billing of the patient. Patients are billed for surgical procedures in private institutions based on the type of surgery in addition to what has been used to undergo that surgery. Therefore, stock and inventory tracking and management is crucial in both the billing and forecasting of finances of the institution. 

Here’s how Cellma helps. 

When these items are entered into the Cellma system under the inventory and supplies management module, an RFID (radio frequency identification) code is included with each individual stock item, this allows for the item to be tracked throughout the hospital when it is distributed to various departments etc. When entering the stock into the system, there are data fields that are entered, these fields are crucial to the usage and identification of the stock item. For example 

• Category  
• Subcategory  
• Name  
• Price  
• Batch Number 

• Expiry Date 
• Item Name 
• RFID 
• Item Short Barcode 
• Unit of Measure  

• Unit of Dispense 

The price attached to each individual item is entered into the system. Once a doctor updates the procedure using all items that were used, this is automatically added to billing of the patient. Cellma offers a fully integrated system which allows the billing and finance module to pull the required pricing from the Supplies and Inventory module. Structure of the bill may vary across clinics and hospitals as per their requirement. Some bills may be concise, while others may use a more detailed format. Some may be billed separately for other ancillary services. 

The fact of the matter is that it is incumbent on both the establishment and the patient to bear their own responsibilities for ensuring that the invoice is correct. A thorough and detailed examination of the bill should be done and Cellma automates this whole process.  

For further information on how our Cellma product can help to improve control of your billing and stock systems, please feel free to contact us or visit our website for further information.