How do I record lab fees when charting for an NHS Wales patient?
Labs are chargeable to patients in certain circumstances. You need to record these when charting, to ensure any NHS claims, as well as your records, are accurate.
When charting, expand any applicable treatment item, by clicking the dropdown arrow to the left of the item.
Click the 'Labs' tab (next to 'Notes').
Click 'Add lab'. You'll now be able to add the lab details.
Labs can be marked as either NHS or Private. Eligible exemptions will apply to NHS labs, but the patient will always be invoiced for Private ones regardless of their exemption status.
Please only enter lab fees for warranty work if the lab is being charged to the patient. Labs associated with work are ineligible to be part of NHS claims.
Labs for items marked as being performed under warranty will automatically have their charge type set to Private as these items are not covered by the NHS.
For warranty work, if you do not wish to charge the item through to the patient, please do not enter the lab price at all.
Mark whether the lab has been completed.
Note the price (only editable if not yet marked as complete). You must enter lab fees for appropriate items, as NHSBSA are recording these even when not responsible for the payment.
Lab details auto-save as you edit them, so there is no need to manually save lab fees unless you have other unsaved changes elsewhere in the treatment item.
π Please note: You can edit this amount if the fee changes, prior to claiming. The NHS advise that you should wait until the lab fee amount is known before submitting the claim (after you receive the invoice). If the lab fees change after you have submitted, you can add additional lab items to the treatment plan to top up to the correct amount - when a claim is submitted, it only transmits the total lab fee amount to the NHS, not the individual items you added.
If claiming for the lab work:
NHS Wales will cover up to their tariff amount. Should the cost of the lab exceed this, you are only eligible to claim for the tariff amount, so must enter the lower amount of the tariff or actual charge.
HC3 certificates have a set amount, and cover the patient's care first, and then lab fees after. If the HC3 does not fully cover the cost of the care plus the lab fee, the difference will be charged. We will calculate this remaining amount in Dentally, and you should charge in the same way.
The NHS will only cover "standard" lab options, with the patient expected to pay for the uplift to a more expensive option should they choose one. In order for this to be charged and claimed correctly, you must record the price of the NHS-approved lab with a charge type of 'NHS', and then record a second lab for the uplift amount. The second lab must have a charge type set to 'Private' for it to be invoiced directly to the patient.