What’s inside:
EPIC OpTime is commonly used in OR and procedural rooms across the US.
Integrating third-party software can enhance the performance of EPIC software in operating rooms and procedural labs.
This article looks at:
- How does Epic Charge capture in healthcare using EPIC Charge Router
- Weak points of Epic charge capture
- 3 ways to improve charge capture in Epic and how complete automation is the key you may be missing
- The power of Epic OpTime plus Snap&Go
EPIC OpTime is Epic’s operating room management module, used by hospitals to manage surgical workflows, documentation, and perioperative data within the broader Epic EHR system. It supports scheduling, intraoperative charting, and post-operative records within a single clinical workflow.
However, while Epic OpTime is widely adopted, many healthcare organizations struggle with one critical gap: accurate charge capture at the point of care. Missed items, manual documentation errors, and workflow friction often lead to incomplete records and lost revenue.
This article explains how Epic OpTime works, where its limitations lie, especially in surgical supply capture, and how hospitals can close these data gaps to improve operational and financial performance.
How Charge Capture Works in EPIC OpTime
Charge capture is a crucial element of healthcare revenue cycle management, which directly affects healthcare financial performance. The accuracy of the workflow from start to end determines whether a healthcare organization will receive full payment for the services provided. Charge capture includes several stages: documenting and posting items, and reconciling all charges incurred during the patient’s treatment. The US reimbursement process is complex and relies upon prompt, complete, and correct claim submissions.
The EPIC system uses automated charge capture workflows as well as manual charge capture processes to log the cost elements of each care. The EPIC Charge Router processes all chargeable events during the patient’s treatment, including costs incurred in the OR.
OpTime’s intraoperative record documents charge capture of the products used in surgery, plus other chargeables such as lab tests, diagnostic services, pharmacy costs, and more. All of these items are captured in disparate systems across the organization, but also need to be captured in EPIC.
Where Does Charge Capture Break Down in Epic OpTime?
EPIC charge capture is well-equipped to process charges and item data, but at the point of care, where charge capture matters most, it still creates gaps that hospitals can’t afford to miss.
The point of care is a known weak spot for comprehensive data collection. In a busy, high-pressure environment like the OR, it can be difficult to ensure that every item used is accurately captured, especially when charge capture in EPIC OpTime relies on manual application.
During surgery, as part of the perioperative processes, the circulating nurse needs to ensure that the intraoperative charting system is updated with every consumed and reportable item. However, inadequate systems for perioperative documentation data collection, such as barcode scanning and manual inputting, make this complete and accurate charge capture an extremely difficult task.
Manually keying data into the EPIC system often involves multiple screens and fields, plus dropdowns and pop-ups. These traditional methods create vulnerability in the workflow and can result in missed item documentation, incorrect product selection, delayed charting, uncaptured charges, and lost revenue.
These errors are especially common with bill-only, consignment, and trunk stock items. Epic OpTime relies heavily on the hospital’s item master to identify products used in surgery, but these items are typically not loaded into the item master before use. As a result, usage may occur in the OR before the product data exists in Epic, making these items harder to document, reconcile, and bill accurately.
The data generated in surgery and across the hospital are not just about operational efficiency, it is the foundation for decision-making across the board. Without complete, accurate, and validated data, leadership operates with blinders, impacting the provision of care, the allocation of budgets, staff planning, demand forecasting, and more.
3 Ways to Improve Charge Capture in Epic OpTime
1. Audit preference cards against actual case consumption
Preference cards define what Epic expects to charge, but outdated cards often omit items that have become standard in a procedure. Comparing them against post-case consumption data reveals whether missed charges stem from documentation gaps or build issues, which require different fixes.
2. Create a dedicated capture process for bill-only, consignment, and trunk stock
Epic can only charge what exists in its item master, and bill-only, consignment, and trunk stock are often not included. These items require a parallel point-of-use capture process that records usage in real time and feeds into reconciliation, otherwise the gap remains structural.
3. Replace manual capture with automated point-of-use documentation for high-cost items
Manual entry and barcode scanning depend on the circulating nurse acting at the right moment under time pressure, which introduces failure risk. Automated capture methods record item data at the point of use, removing that dependency for the items with the highest financial impact.
Even with optimized workflows, manual and barcode-based approaches still leave gaps in high-pressure OR environments, which is why many hospitals are moving toward automated charge capture.
|
Approach |
How it Works | Limitations in the OR | Impact on Charge Capture |
| Manual entry | Nurse documents items in Epic during or after surgery | Time-consuming, error-prone, and often incomplete | High risk of missed charges |
| Barcode scanning | Items scanned into the system during use | Scanning failures, workflow disruption, and inconsistent usage | Partial capture with gaps |
| Automated capture (AI-based) | Technology captures item usage in real time | Requires integration and setup |
High accuracy and near-complete charge capture |
Automated approaches that use image recognition and real-time data capture are increasingly being adopted to eliminate manual entry and improve charge capture accuracy in Epic OpTime.
How to Boost Epic OpTime with Automated Charge Capture
An integrated third-party solution for enhanced surgical surgical supply data collection supply data collection leads to more robust charting and charge capture.
Traditional systems such as barcode scanning have proven to be unreliable in the complex OR and procedural room settings. With automated charge capture, there’s minimal manual entry, improved patient safety, and better financial performance.
IDENTI offers a brand-new approach to surgical charge capture by leveraging advanced technology, including image recognition, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data insights.
Snap&Go automates the tasks of capturing and recording surgical product usage by using computer vision. This takes a quick ‘snap’ of product packaging. The nurse simply places the packet or label under the camera, and the system ‘reads’ the image and converts it into digital data.
The item data is then automatically identified via a global SKU database that acts as a virtual item master. This means that items such as bill-only, consignment, or trunk stock are found easily despite not being loaded into the hospital’s item master.
And with seamless integration with EPIC OpTime, all valuable surgical consumption data collected is shared with the EHR, ERP, and MMIS.
Real-world results: Orthopedic surgery charge capture benchmarked
In a benchmarked orthopedic elbow procedure at a large US hospital network, Snap&Go captured 127% more chargeable value than the facility’s standard EHR workflow under identical clinical conditions. The EHR missed two high-value bill-only implants worth $1,800 (approximately 60% of the total case value) because the items weren’t loaded in the item master and therefore couldn’t be selected. It also missed med-surg consumables, representing a further 18–21% of case value. Snap&Go captured all of it, along with near-complete lot and expiry data, versus 10.5% completeness in the EHR record.
What Complete Charge Capture Delivers with Epic OpTime and Snap&Go
The combination of EPIC EHR software and Snap&Go increases nurse capacity and productivity, while improving the efficiency and accuracy of surgical supply data collection.
The efficient data sharing of surgical supply chain data with operational workflows delivers the following benefits:
- 100% item and surgical supply charge capture
- Optimized medical billing and reimbursement
- Reduced nurse supply chain administration improves the quality of patient care
- Full EHR records with images and time stamps ensure legal, regulatory, and standards compliance
- Enhanced implant recall management
- Data-driven procurement and accurate data to support leaner inventory management
- Complete and accurate data for data-driven decision making
Every case without complete charge capture is revenue that cannot be recovered after the fact. The question is not whether gaps exist; the benchmarked data show they do. The real question is whether your current workflow is built to close them.
If you’re using Epic OpTime and losing charges you can’t recover, contact us to see how Snap&Go closes the gap.
