Bill only Management
Use image recognition and AI to digitally track and document bill-only items at the point of care
The challenge of managing bill only items
The processing of ‘trunk stock’ is resource-intensive, and mistakes made at the point of care create chokepoints in administrative workflows. Bill only management has become a vital issue for healthcare providers to conquer.
“Bill only” products in healthcare typically refer to medical supplies or services that are directly billed to the patient or their insurance provider, without being stocked in the hospital’s inventory or being preloaded into the system.
These ‘invisible’ items are difficult to document and commonly result in manual workarounds and documentation delays.
Orthopedic surgeries can involve over a hundred inventory items, and many of these can be bill-only products or kits.
Ensuring all reportable and billable products make it into the EHR is a complex task that traditionally involves lengthy data entry.
Bill only products are not part of the stock, so they are untagged and hard to track electronically.
They may not be listed in the local catalog, or could have an out-of-date code, resulting in system errors.
When automated processes break down, nurses are burdened with manual, error-prone workarounds.
Vital elements of bill only management in healthcare:
- Full data collection of consumed bill-only items – ensuring every product is recorded in hospital systems. EHR records must be complete and correct to safeguard patients, and ensure organizational compliance with regulations and quality standards.
- Interoperability with core hospital systems – for efficient healthcare operations and administration.
- Shared vision of utilization between vendors and providers – for increased trust and transparency.
- Revenue – medical billing needs to be based on the full cost of medical care to optimize reimbursement.
- Procurement – Organizations need to make bill only utilization visible in order to carry out value-analysis exercises, for example assessing whether it would be more cost-effective to add commonly used bill-only items to their owned-stock, or to look at standardization issues.
Image recognition ‘reads’ product packets, labels and hand-written implant sheets for reliable digital documentation.
Global SKU database puts an end to system errors by tapping into our virtual item master for seamless system entries.
AI & machine learning generates real-time metrics, reports and insights from complete and correct consumption data.
Bill only solution at the point of use
Snap&Go’s groundbreaking image-recognition technology effortlessly handles implant documentation and converts handwritten count sheets into comprehensive and accurate EHR records for “bill-only” cases.
Say goodbye to errors and data gaps in the EHR by harnessing Snap&Go’s unique technology. Ensure even the smallest items are accurately documented in the patient file.
Snap&Go utilizes image recognition and AI technology to eliminate bill-only blind spots at the point of care. With access to a global SKU database, it simplifies the identification and recording of non-stock items, guaranteeing complete documentation of every reportable item consumed.
Leverage AI insights on your entire utilization, including vendor-owned stock that is directly delivered into surgery.
Benefit from comprehensive data analysis to optimize your inventory management and streamline your surgical workflow.
See how our computer vision sensor digitizes handwritten implant sheets:
All data is transferred into EMR, ERP, MMIS systems in 3 seconds!
Recognized data
Snap&Go identifies the data using image recognition technology
"Snap" the implant sheet
Nurse fills in the implant sheet manually
Suitable for a wide range of “bill-only” items and various surgical procedures:
- Implantable Devices: Orthopedic implants, cardiac implants, and more, often billed separately in surgical procedures.
- Specialized Surgical Instruments: Microsurgical instruments for delicate procedures like neurosurgery or ophthalmic surgery.
- Biological Tissue Grafts: Skin grafts, bone grafts, or tissue matrix products used in reconstructive surgeries.
- Mesh Products: Used in hernia repairs, pelvic organ prolapse surgeries, or other procedures requiring reinforcement or support.
- Custom-made Implants: Cranial implants for neurosurgery or dental implants for oral and maxillofacial surgeries, designed for individual patients.
“Bill only” Safety and “adverse events”
Bill-only products are not hospital managed stock, so extra care needs to be taken to validate and record every item.
Here’s how Snap&Go supports nurses and safeguards patients by providing enhanced protection for this high-risk stock:
- Items are automatically recorded at the point of care without the need for any manual data-entry.
- Pre-consumption safety checks ensure no expired or recalled item is consumed.
- Full and accurate item listing in the patient file including SKU, batch/lot/serial reference, expiry date and more/
- Precise records support clinical decision making in the case of any adverse effects post surgery.
- Searchable batch database ensures swift identification of patients affected by a product recall.
