Charge Capture

What is charge capture?

Charge capture is the process of recording every billable service a provider performs so it reaches a claim. If a procedure is performed but never entered, it is never billed and never paid. Unlike a denial, which is visible and appealable, a missed charge leaves no trace anywhere in the system. It is the quietest form of revenue loss in a practice.

How charges go missing

Services delivered outside the normal appointment flow are the usual casualties: a procedure added during a visit, an injection, a supply used, after-hours or phone encounters, or work done by a provider covering for someone else. Paper encounter forms that never make it to billing, and electronic charges saved as drafts but never signed, account for much of the rest. Practices with multiple locations or part-time providers lose more.

Closing the gap

Reconcile the appointment schedule against charges entered, every day. Any completed visit with no corresponding charge is a question to answer while the provider still remembers. Set a rule that charges must be entered within 24 to 48 hours. Review unsigned encounters weekly. The reconciliation takes minutes and routinely recovers several percent of revenue in practices that have never done it.