Billing; Additional Options

Additional standard invoice billing options

                                         Translation table
1.  Automatic surcharges    : No          254 - Drugs
2.  B/F at top of bill      : Yes              -
3.  Join lines together     : Yes              -
4.  Remittance word         : cut
5.  Line or running balance : Running balance
6.  Send bill flag will     : Delay bill by 1 stage
7.  Status codes to ignore  : BD codes to include:
8.  Pre-printed stationery  : No
9.  Aged bal on statements  : Yes
10. Total the columns       : Yes
11. Minimum amount to bill  : .01
12. Ignore lines with '!'   : No     Ignore code '0' and N.C  No
13. Stage letter based on   : Last activity
14. Show ALL work           : No
15. Branch codes to use     : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Enter option to change <M>ore or <RETURN> to continue..

1. Automatic surcharges : No
The system handles surcharges in 2 ways:

1. The surcharge is worked out and the client is told it will be added if the bill is not paid e.g.

   A surcharge of 5.45 may be added if not paid by 'date'.
   

2. Or - If this switch is set to 'Yes' then the system will add to the animal's record a transaction line. This will be included on the invoice and the client is told that it may be deducted if paid by 'date' e.g.

   A surcharge of 2.45 has been added to this account.
   It may be deducted if paid by [date]
   

   This saves having to run the apply surcharges program. However there are some points to remember:
   • Once added the surcharge will then be classed as a discount.
   • The phrase 'It may be deducted if paid by [date]' can be disabled by changing the 'number of days to apply surcharge after' in the discount/surcharge set up option to zero.
   • If you are using automatic surcharges AND have set 'Surcharge to be added for bill not paid by' to ZERO, then when the payment is made you will not be asked any questions relating to the surcharge.

2. B/F at top of bill : Yes
This is used to enable or disable the printing of the line 'Brought forward' at the top of the bill. The normal setting for this is 'Yes'.

3. Join lines together : Yes with :
Normally each clinical line entered is printed on a line of its own. However this option can be used to squeeze together clinical work done on the same day onto the same line.

When 'Join lines' is switched on you can select the character that will be used to separate each line of work. This is changed whenever join lines is set to yes, by asking you an additional question.

In addition, you can tell the system when to take a new line. This is set on the third invoice selection screen option (S)plit. You will be prompted for up to five 4 character codes. If one of these codes is found at the start of a line, the work done will be printed on a new line.

Note: Each transaction will be separated by a colon ':' and the lines (if needed) will be split at a space. If no space is present on the line then a new line will be used. There is a limit of 20 lines on any one day. A new line is taken whenever a new transaction date occurs or whenever a payment is made.

4. Remittance Word : cut
This is used to change the word that appears on the remittance slip, and there are 5 characters available. The other common option is TEAR if the remittance slip is perforated e.g.

PLEASE CUT OFF THIS REMITTANCE SLIP
PLEASE TEAR OFF THIS REMITTANCE SLIP

5. Line or running bal : Running balance
This is used to alter the 'Total' column display. If set to 'Running balance' then the column will add up across and down.

6. Send bill flag will : Delay bill by 1 stage
This option controls what effect the 'Send bill' flag on the management record card has on invoices. If set to 'Yes' (which is the default) then this has no effect and an invoice will be produced. If set to 'No' then you have the following options:

1. Delay bill by 1 stage
   The course of treatment has not finished, therefore the bill stage is reduced by a factor of 1. If it was originally a stage 1 bill then an invoice will NOT be produced, if it is a stage 3 bill then it will be reduced to stage 2. The appropriate stage letter will be added if set.

2. Never send a bill
   A bill will NEVER be sent.

7. Status codes to ignore : BD Codes to include :
The status code on the management record are examined to check whether or not they match the codes you have entered at this point.

• If there is an entry under 'Codes to ignore', and if the status code matches any of the entries then this animal record is skipped.
• If there are entries in the 'Codes to include' all animal records not containing the code will be skipped.

Note: Status codes are two characters long. When you are adding multiple codes at this option, be sure to separate each one-character code with a space.

8. Pre-printed stationery : No
Please see the section Paper length.

9. Aged bal on statements : Yes
If you want to print the aged figures on a statement then set this option to 'Yes'.

10. Total the columns : Yes
Setting this option to 'Yes' totals the Fees, Drugs and VAT columns at the foot of the invoice. This does not apply to composite bill types.

11. Minimum amount to bill : -9999.00
This is the minimum amount for which an invoice will be generated.

12. Ignore lines with '!' and Ignore code '0' and N.C
There are two parts to this option:

1. Ignore lines with '!':
   If this option is set to 'Yes' then an exclamation mark (!) has a special meaning when used in clinical lines:
   1. If the first character of the clinical line is an ! and the line is unpriced then the line will NOT be printed on the bill.
   2. Any text following an ! on a clinical line is ignored.
   3. If the 1st character is an ! but the line is priced, then the phrase 'Work done' will be inserted.

2. Ignore code '0' and N.C :
   If this is set to 'Yes' then any unpriced work with an analysis code of zero will not be printed. This is available because when entering work via the 'T'ext option only the last text line will be allocated an analysis code and price. This switch can be used to ignore all text entries EXCEPT the last line.

13. Stage letter based on : last activity
See Stage letters.

14. Show ALL Work : No
When generating invoices (Type C, D and I), if the management record balance is zero then the animal will be ignored. This option will look instead at the 'Last paid' and 'Last consultation' dates and if either of these dates are within the invoicing period an invoice/statement will be produced. It is advisable to use this option only if the bulk of your bills are composite.

Note: When to use this option:
When generating composite invoices, the only payments shown will be for the animals billed. e.g. If a client has 2 related animals with outstanding balances (of say 20.00 and 30.00), the invoice will be for 50.00. If the client then comes in and pays 40.00, they will pay off one animal completely and part pay the other 20.00, leaving a balance of 10.00. When the next invoice is produced the only payment shown will be 20.00 (the part payment on the 2nd animal) as the first animal's balance was zero. This will cause the client some confusion and they might question the bill.

By switching on this option, the system will look at the 'Last paid/Last consultation' dates. If they fall within the invoice period any transaction for that period will be processed. This has the effect of giving a true picture of the client's account.

N.B. Please remember this option will process accounts with work done and zero balances. This means you may get lots of bills for zero.

15. Branch codes to use : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
This is used to send bills for specific surgeries. If the surgery number on the client's record appears in this list then the client will be billed.

The Translation Table
You can use the translation table to substitute analysis codes for text your clients will understand.

For example: You may want your clinical records to show specific details of any antibiotics supplied to a farm, but you only want your client to see the text 'Antibiotics' on the subsequent bill. You would set up the analysis code for antibiotics to 240 (you could also use 254, 241 or 242), then set the system to translate all code 240 to read 'Antibiotics'. If there is more than one line containing the same code, this will be condensed to one line on the bill by the translation table.

To change the translation table you select 'T' from the prompt line. You can have up to 3 translations set up. Premvet 5 will first prompt you for the analysis code you wish to translate, followed by your new definition.

Translation will take place BEFORE checking for exclamation marks, so the translation feature can also be used to translate a line for particular analysis code to a '!' and if the 'ignore lines with an exclamation mark' feature is switched on, lines attached to this analysis code will be ignored on the bill. This is useful if you do not want manual text to appear on the bill, for instance.

Additional Screen 2

1.  Inc vet's reference No
2.  Suppress zero figures No
3.  Suppress 'Paid' lines No
4.  COMPLETELY ignore zero priced lines No
5.  Aged months No
6.  One animal summary No
7.  Inc Batch Number
P   Paper length 66                               Split On


Discount      254      240      241      242
Band (1)     0.00     0.00     0.00     0.00
Band (2)     0.00     0.00     0.00     0.00
Band (3)     0.00     0.00     0.00     0.00
Band (4)     0.00     0.00     0.00     0.00
Band (5)     0.00     0.00     0.00     0.00

Bill layout type   Normal

Select option to change <1..7> <B>ill <P>aper or <D>isc

1. Inc Vet's reference
If this option is set to 'Yes' then the user reference is printed on the invoice line. This will appear between the date and description and is only valid if you are using 1 character user I.D.'s.

2. Suppress Zero figures
Normally the invoice includes zeros (.00) if there is no price available. If this option is set to 'Yes' then zero figures will be printed as spaces.

3. Suppress 'paid' lines
If this option is set to 'Yes' then any payment lines are NOT printed in the invoice. This option also ignores discount lines.

4. Completely ignore unpriced lines
If set to 'Yes' Premvet 5 will ignore any transactions that are unpriced. The option to ignore lines starting with an exclamation mark and unpriced code 0 lines is still available as an alternative. This option is an amalgamation of the two.

5. Aged months
If this option is set to 'Yes' when the aged amounts are printed then they will be in calendar months and not the groups of 0-30, 31-60 days etc.

6. One animal summary
If this option is set to 'Yes' customers with only one animal will receive a summary if they are getting a composite invoice.

7. Inc. batch Number
If this option is set to 'Yes' lines with 'Batch:' will automatically be included on the invoice.

P Paper
See Paper length, for details. If this is set to zero (0) then the system will use the current paper size.

Bill Layout Type : Normal
See Layout Types, for details.

The Discount details relate to Special Drug Discounts and is later.