Theatre Adding Services to Surgery - hmislk/hmis GitHub Wiki

Theatre — Adding Services and Investigations to a Surgery

Overview

Theatre Services are the fixed-rate charges added to a surgery bill — OT room charges, surgical instrument fees, consumable charges, and investigations ordered during the surgical episode. These are charged per item, not by duration. This page guides billing staff through the process of adding services and investigations to an existing surgery.

When to Use

  • Charging OT room fees after a surgical procedure
  • Adding investigation orders (lab tests, imaging) linked to a surgery
  • Recording surgical consumable charges that are not issued via pharmacy
  • Correcting or adding services before the patient is discharged

Required Privilege

TheatreBilling

Navigating to Add Services

From the Surgery Workbench:

  1. Open the Surgery Workbench for the patient
  2. Click Add Services & Investigations
  3. The page opens with the surgery pre-selected

From the Theatre menu:

  1. Click Theatre → Service → Add Service
  2. Search for and select the patient/surgery in the autocomplete field

Step-by-Step: Adding Services

Step 1 — Select the Surgery (if not pre-loaded)

If accessing from the menu, type the patient's name or BHT in the search field and select the surgery from the autocomplete results.

Step 2 — Add Service Items

  1. Click in the Service / Investigation search field
  2. Type part of the service name — results filter as you type
  3. Select the service from the autocomplete list
  4. If the service requires a Quantity, enter the number of units
  5. Optionally enter a Description (free text)
  6. Click Add — the item appears in the bill items table below

Repeat for each additional service.

Step 3 — Review the Bill Items

The bill items table shows all services added in the current session. You can review:

Column Description
Service Name Name of the service added
Quantity Number of units
Rate Unit rate (if privilege allows viewing fees)
Total Line total
Remove Button to remove an item before settling

The Bill Total panel updates automatically as items are added.

Step 4 — Settle the Bill

  1. Review all items for accuracy
  2. Click Settle (green button) to finalise and save the service bill
  3. A print preview of the bill appears — you can print or save as PDF

Important: Once settled, the service bill is linked to the surgery and the charges are included in the patient's running inpatient total. To reverse charges, the bill must be cancelled (contact a supervisor).

Starting a New Bill (Multiple Service Bills)

If you need to add more services after settling an initial bill:

  • Click New Bill to start a fresh service bill for the same surgery
  • Multiple service bills can exist under one surgery

After Settling

After settling, a print preview is shown automatically. From the preview you can:

  • Print the bill
  • Save as PDF
  • Navigate back to the Surgery Workbench or Inpatient Dashboard

Understanding Messages

Success

  • The bill settles and a print preview appears

Error Messages

  • "Please select a surgery" — A surgery must be loaded before adding services
  • "Please add at least one item" — At least one service must be in the table before settling
  • "Admission has been finalised" — No new service bills can be added once the admission is closed

Searching Service Bills

To review or reprint previously settled service bills:

  1. Click Theatre → Service → Search Bills
  2. Enter search criteria (date range, patient, bill number)
  3. Select the bill to view or reprint

Best Practices

  • Add all services for a procedure in one session if possible to minimise the number of service bills
  • Verify the services selected are theatre-specific items — general inpatient services should be billed through the inpatient billing screens
  • If a service is added in error, remove it from the table before settling — removing is not possible after the bill is settled without cancellation

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