Articles on: Invoicing & Payment

Guide to Invoicing and Billing

What is It?

WriteUpp provides a very simple mechanism to:

Create Invoices for both appointments and expenses
Keep Track of paid and unpaid Invoices
Maintain a record of Bad Debts
Pinpoint appointments that have not yet been invoiced

Why use invoicing?

Maintain high quality financial records
Stay on top of cash-flow
Reduce paperwork

Setup

Go to Settings -> Invoice -> Basics

Invoice Number

This is useful if you want your invoices to start at a certain number. This only affects invoices created going forward. The value must be greater than the current maximum invoice number.

Once an invoice number has been set, you cannot go below this and revert to a smaller number. Please ensure you do this with care.

You can also set the currency and payment terms for your invoices here.

Edit VAT rates and change the discount code calculation setting under Basics too.

Go to Settings -> Invoice -> Layout

Invoice Footer

You are able to manually input any details into the footer of your invoice, including things like your practice address, telephone number, email address and payment details. You can learn more about this here.

This uses the same HTML editor as you will find in other parts of WriteUpp, allowing you to format text in all kinds of ways. You can also use it to insert images, annotations, links and variables. We know that HTML editors can be tricky, so if you're having trouble formatting the footer as you would like, please read How to use the HTML Text Editor or grab us for a chat!

Once you have added the information that you would like to appear in your footer, just click Save.

Add custom fields

You can add any custom fields that you have created to your invoices as a variable. Check out how to do this here -> How do I add custom fields to my invoice?

Choose what information appears on your invoices

There are a number of fields that you can add to your invoices including hospital and NHS numbers. Find out how to add these here -> What fields can I add to my Invoice?

Go to Settings -> Scheduling

Different Appointment Types that you are going to charge for can be configured to have different prices that will automatically pull through onto your Invoices (but these can be manually altered).

Go to Settings -> Scheduling

Stay in the 'Appointment Types' section (this should be open as a default)

Ensure that you have added all of the Appointment Types you wish to charge for, along with the correct prices

Want to add new Types? How do I add an Appointment Type?

Furthermore, setting up different Appointment Statuses can help you to specify whether clients have attended or not, and help to ensure that you only invoice for the correct treatments:

Go to Settings -> Scheduling

Go to the 'Appointment Statuses' tab

Ensure that you have added all of the Appointment Statuses you wish to charge for (i.e. Booked, Complete), as well as ones that you don't (i.e. Cancelled)

Any appointments with a status that indicates the patient has not attended (i.e. Cancelled) cannot be invoiced

Therefore, if you wish to charge for missed appointments, you need to create an Appointment Status for them which is an end status, but is set to 'Patient Attending'. You can read more about how to do that here.

Want to learn more about adding your own appointment statuses? Read the How do I add an Appointment Status? Article

Go to Settings -> Third Parties

If you wish to invoice organisations other than the Patient (i.e. Insurers, Medico-Legal etc), then you need to set them up as Third Parties, so their information can automatically be pulled through onto Invoices.

To add new ones, follow the How do I add Third Parties? article or watch the Creating and Adding Third Parties video.

You can then use the part-payment function to bill these Third Parties for part of that invoice - Adding part payments to an invoice

Go to Fields -> Payment Types

When you mark an Invoice as Paid, you have the option to specify a number of different Payment Types i.e. Cash, Card, Stripe. To add new ones:

Click on the menu in the top left corner and go to Fields -> Payment Types

Click on the +Add button

Enter a Payment Type (i.e. Direct Debit)

Click Save

Once you have completed the Set up, you're good to go!

To create an Invoice for a Patient:

Click on the Create button and select Invoice

You will see a list of appointments that you have not yet invoiced for that patient. Use the blue checkboxes to add or remove appointments from the new invoice. Use the checkbox at the top alongside the 'Date' title to quickly add/remove all listed appointments.

Optional - Update the statuses of any of the appointments listed that are not at "end statuses" i.e. complete, DNA, Cancelled etc. Changes made here will be reflected in the Diary and Clinic List.

Below the list of appointments, is a list of expenses for the client (if any). Again, use the blue checkboxes to add/remove expenses from the new invoice, or click the checkbox at the top to quickly add/remove all of the listed items.

All appointments and expenses for the Active Client are automatically ticked when you go to Create -> Invoice. Simply untick the checkbox next to any appointment/expense that you wish to remove from the new invoice.

Add any extra expenses that you wish to include on the invoice by clicking on the Add New Expense button at the bottom of the page

Once you are satisfied with the appointments and expenses to be included, click on the green Generate Invoice button

Modify any information required on the 'Invoice Details' page, including: Reference, Due Date, Descriptions and Price

From the 'Payable by' drop-down list, select either:

Patient: This will automatically input the Patients Details

Other: Will allow you to input the details in free text

Third Parties: If any Third Parties have been added to the Patient Record, you will be able to select these here

Next of Kin

Once this is complete, click on the Save Invoice button

You will then be taken to the finalised invoice page, were you can print it, mark the invoice as Paid, add a payment (if the invoice is split over multiple payors) or mark as Bad Debt.

Your generated invoice will look like this:

Once you have created an invoice for a Patient, you can email it directly to them. You will see icons at the bottom of a generated invoice, with the small envelope one being the email option.

Clicking on the Email icon will send the invoice directly as a PDF attachment to the specified recipient.

You can also send the invoice via Direct Message by choosing the DM icon:

Managing Invoices

Finance Views

As part of the Business Views, the 'Finance' section lets you see all Unpaid Invoices, Paid Invoices, and any Non-invoiced Appointments.

You can access these by clicking the Main Menu in the top toolbar and selecting Finance:

For more help with Business Views, read the What are the Business Views? article.

Patient Summary - Account

To view Paid and Unpaid Invoices for specific Patients, go to their Patient Summary and click on the Account tab:

Recording Payment of Invoices

Using the Payment Types you configured earlier, you can record Payments for invoices. Select an invoice, and then follow the steps in the How do you mark an Invoice as Paid/Bad Debt? article.

Deleting/Amending Invoices

If an invoice is incorrect (prior to payment) you can delete it and start again.

To delete an invoice, open it up and click on the Trash icon at the bottom right hand side of the page.

Once an invoice has been marked as paid, the appointments included on the invoice can no longer be amended or deleted. This is to ensure that your diary records match up with your financial records in the event of an audit.

If you do need to change the details of an invoice which has been marked as paid, you must first delete the associated payment -> How do I edit an invoice that has been marked as Paid?

Warning: If you delete an invoice, both the invoice and it's associated number are deleted, which results in a discrepancy in the invoice number sequence.

Updated on: 28/06/2024

Was this article helpful?

Thank you!