Invoices overview

The Invoice module is how your clinic bills patients. An invoice is addressed to one patient and lists what they’re being charged for as lines. Money the patient pays, or that you pay back, is recorded against the invoice as payments and refunds. These are ordinary finance transactions, so they land in your accounts and go through the same approval rules.

Key concepts

Lines and the records they bill

Each line has a description, a price and an optional discount. A line can also be tied to the records it relates to, in two ways:

Link	Meaning	Records that can be linked this way
Bills for	The line charges for this record. A line can bill one record only.	A patient treatment, a lab order, supplies used (inventory consumption)
Related records	For reference only, for example the visit a charge belongs to. A line can have any number.	Visits (appointments), and other records for context

Visits are always related records: they explain where a charge came from, but a visit itself is never the billed record. A visit line on its own (for example “Consultation”) is a line whose price comes from your appointment-type pricing, linked to the visit for reference.

Because lines are linked to records, every billed treatment, lab order and supply shows its own billing status wherever it appears: Not invoiced, Unpaid, Partly paid or Paid. See How payments are applied to lines.

Totals

Figure	How it’s worked out
Subtotal	The sum of all line prices.
Discount	The sum of all line discounts.
Total	Subtotal minus discount.
Payments	Every payment recorded against the invoice, except voided ones. Pending payments count.
Refunds	Every refund recorded against it, except voided ones.
Balance due	Total minus payments plus refunds.

Statuses

Status	Meaning	Can move to
Draft	Being prepared. Everything can still change.	Issued (needs at least one item), Cancelled
Issued	Ready to be paid. Lines can still be corrected until it’s paid.	Partially paid / Paid (automatically, as payments arrive), Cancelled
Partially paid	Some of it is paid.	Paid, Cancelled
Paid	Fully paid.	(final)
Cancelled	No longer owed.	(final)

Payments move an invoice between Issued, Partially paid and Paid by themselves. If a payment is voided, the status moves back.

Where invoices appear

Place	What you can do there
Staff & Administration › Finance › Invoices	Search, filter and export every invoice. Create invoices.
A patient’s Invoices tab	That patient’s invoices and their Statement.
An appointment’s Invoices section	See the invoices linked to that visit.
Treatments, lab orders and other billed records	Their Payment card shows whether they’re invoiced and paid.
The Generate Invoice action (on appointments and other records of a patient)	Start an invoice pre-filled for that patient and record.
Finance › New Transaction › Invoice	Record a payment or refund.
Configuration › Invoice	Visit prices and how payments are applied to lines.
The patient portal	Patients see their own invoices, payments and balance.

Permissions

Permission	Allows	Starts on these roles
Read invoices	See invoices everywhere they appear.	Receptionist, Manager
Create invoices	Create invoices, including with Generate Invoice.	Receptionist, Manager
Update invoices	Edit invoices and change their status.	Receptionist, Manager
Delete invoices	Delete invoices that never had a payment or refund recorded.	Manager

Recording a payment or refund also needs staff access on the account involved, in the right direction: In for payments, Out for refunds. Approving them follows that account’s approval rights.

In this section

Creating an invoice: starting an invoice, adding lines from the patient’s records or by hand, discounts.
Managing invoices: the list, the invoice page, issuing, editing, cancelling and deleting.
Payments and refunds: taking payments, refunds and the refund window, approvals.
Patient statements: a patient’s invoices and statement, and what they see in the portal.
Invoice settings: visit prices and how payments are applied to lines.