Setup
Fee schedules
Set your standard charge per unit for each code and each payer's expected allowed amounts, in versions by date of service, and copy, import or export the lines.
A fee schedule lists an amount per unit for each billing code. Open Setup > Billing setup > Fee Schedules to see them all. Anyone with access to Setup can see them; only people whose role can manage payers can change them.
There are two kinds:
- Standard charges: what your clinic bills per unit, for every payer. Every clinic has exactly one, and it is also the self-pay price unless the Self-pay payer has its own schedule. You cannot delete or deactivate it.
- Payer allowed amounts: what one or more payers are expected to allow per unit, so you can spot underpayments. A payer belongs to at most one of these schedules.
Versions#
Rates change, so each schedule keeps versions. A version covers dates of service from its Effective from date through its Effective to date, or onward when the end is empty. Versions of one schedule never overlap. The version that covers today is marked In effect today.
A charge uses the rate in effect on its date of service and keeps that rate. Adding or editing a version never changes a charge that was already created.
Once a rate has priced a charge, it is locked: saving the version with a different amount (or without that line) is refused. To change the rate, add a new version from the date the new rate applies. The Lines description names the locked codes.
Reprice unbilled charges#
Charges still in review keep the rate they were created with until you ask for the new one. When a version covers unbilled charges, its dialog shows Reprice Unbilled Charges with their count. Click it and confirm: each unbilled charge with a date of service in the version's range takes the rates in force now, and its history records the old and new amounts. Billed charges never change; correct them with a corrected claim.
To add a version, for example for next year's rates:
- Open the schedule, click the Versions tab and click New Version.
- Enter the Effective from date. Leave Effective to empty to keep it open-ended.
- Click Create Version.
The new version starts with a copy of the lines from the version before it, so you only change the rates that changed. If the version before it was open-ended, it now ends the day before the new one starts.
Edit the lines#
Open a version from the schedule's Versions tab. It opens in a second dialog on top of the schedule; close it to go back to the schedule. Each line has:
| Column | What it means |
|---|---|
| Code | The CPT or HCPCS code, such as 92507 or G0283. Type part of the code or its description and pick it from the list; only codes valid on the version's start date are offered. |
| Modifier | Optional. A rate for this code only when the line carries this modifier, such as CO. |
| Location | Optional. A rate for this code only at one location. All locations applies everywhere. |
| Charge or Allowed | The amount per unit, with up to two decimal places. |
| Encounter | Bill this code as one unit for this schedule's payers, whatever its usual unit rule. |
When more than one line matches a charge, the line for the charge's modifier wins over the line for its location, which wins over the code's base line.
Click Add line for each new rate and the trash can to remove one. Add enabled codes adds a line for every code on your procedure code list that this version does not price yet; fill in the amounts. Your changes are saved together when you click Save Changes. If someone else saves the same version while you are editing, your edits stay on screen and NeatPractice shows a notice; click Reload to see the saved lines before you save. A line for a location that was deactivated keeps it, marked inactive.
Copy from another schedule or payer#
- Open the schedule that gets the new rates, click the Versions tab and click Copy From.
- Choose the schedule to copy from; type part of its name to search every schedule. Each payer schedule shows its payers, so to copy from a payer, pick that payer's schedule. Then choose its version; the newest is picked for you.
- Choose what happens to the existing lines:
- Merge keeps this schedule's current lines and adds or overwrites the lines from the source.
- Replace keeps only the lines from the source.
- Pick the dates for the new version and click Copy.
Copying always creates a new version, so earlier dates of service keep their rates.
Import and export lines#
Click Export CSV on a version to download its lines. The file has these columns, and a file in the same format can be imported back:
code,modifier,location,amount,encounter_override
92507,,,150.00,no
92507,,MAIN,165.00,no
97530,CO,,37.40,no
code and amount are required. location is a location's short code or name; leave it empty for all
locations. encounter_override is yes or no.
To import, click Import CSV, choose the file and pick Merge or Replace. NeatPractice checks every row right away and shows how many lines it read and how many the version will hold after the import. If any row has a problem, the dialog lists each row with what to fix, by its line number in the file, and Import stays off until the file is clean. Click Import to save the lines.
Import and export work on the saved version. With unsaved edits on screen, Import CSV asks you to save them first or discard them, and Export CSV warns that the file holds only the saved lines.
The fee schedule list itself also has Export CSV and Print, with each schedule's payers and the version in force today. See Import, export and print.