Charges are the production ledger: every completed visit, and anything else you bill, is a charge on the client's account. Find them on the client's Billing tab, below the billing profile.
How charges are created
- Automatically, when an appointment is marked completed: one charge per client (one per attended client for a group), dated on the visit, with the service's billing code and modifiers, the provider, the place of service (office, or telehealth when the service is virtual), and the fee that was resolved for the visit. Signing a clinical note linked to the visit links or captures the same charge; it is never duplicated.
- By hand, with Add charge: service date, a code searched from the catalog (the description, units, fee, and place of service fill in), the fee, units, provider, diagnosis pointers, and notes.
A charge whose fee is unknown is created as a Draft for you to price; see Set client fees and rates. Charges also record the client's share of the fee (the copay for insurance clients), which is what autopay charges.
Reading the list
The toolbar has a date range (last 30 days, this month, last month, this year, last year), Add charge, and a New ▾ menu for a Superbill or an Invoice. Each charge shows its description, code, date and units, fee, and a status:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Unpaid | Nothing paid yet |
| Partial | Some of the fee paid or adjusted |
| Paid | Fully settled |
| Draft | No fee yet; not on superbills unless you include drafts |
| Void | Removed; kept for the record |
Click a charge to edit it; Void asks for confirmation.
Settling a charge without a payment
Adjust balance on the balance strip records a write-off, discount, courtesy, insurance adjustment, or correction with a reason. Tied to a charge, it counts as settled on that line; every adjustment is a row in the ledger the financial reports read.
What charges feed
- Superbills list charges as line items with their diagnosis pointers; see Create and send superbills.
- Payments settle charges: a payment tied to the visit, an autopay charge, a portal payment, or a payment-plan installment. See Take patient payments.
- Reports count charges as production and unpaid charges as open A/R.
Practices connected to athenahealth keep their previous charge capture rule and none of the rate screens.