Finance Collecting Centre Management

Collecting Centre Management

Introduction

A collecting centre is an external partner — typically a private clinic, pharmacy, or diagnostic centre — that collects patient samples or makes referrals and receives a collection fee or commission for each specimen or referral sent to the hospital. Collecting centre management covers setup, fee configuration, billing, and payment to these partners.

Navigation

Main Menu → Administration → Collecting Centres OR Main Menu → Finance → Collecting Centre Payments

Setting Up a Collecting Centre

1. Navigate to Administration → Collecting Centres.
2. Click New Collecting Centre.
3. Fill in:
   • Name — centre name
   • Code — short code for identification
   • Contact — address, phone, email
   • Default Commission Rate — percentage or fixed fee per referral/test
4. Save.

Configuring Collection Fees

Each test or service can have a specific collection fee for each collecting centre:

1. Open the collecting centre record.
2. Navigate to the Fee Configuration tab.
3. For each service/test:
   • Set the collecting fee (fixed amount or %)
   • Set whether the fee applies to all tests or specific items
4. Save.

The FeeType.CollectingCentre value in the FeeType enum designates these fees in the system.

Recording Collecting Centre Bills

When a patient is referred from a collecting centre:

1. At reception or billing, the referring collecting centre is selected on the patient registration or bill.
2. The system records the collecting centre reference on the bill.
3. The collection fee is calculated based on the configured rates.

Paying Collecting Centres

1. Navigate to Finance → Collecting Centre Payments.
2. Select the collecting centre.
3. Set the date range for payments due.
4. The system lists all bills with collection fees outstanding.
5. Review and verify the amounts.
6. Click Generate Payment to create a payment voucher.
7. Record the actual payment method (cheque, bank transfer).
8. Print the payment voucher.

Collecting Centre Statement

1. Open the collecting centre record.
2. Navigate to the Statement tab.
3. Set the date range.
4. The statement shows: referral date, test/service, bill amount, collection fee, status (paid/unpaid).
5. Export to Excel.

Reconciling with Collecting Centre Invoices

Collecting centres typically submit their own fee invoices. To reconcile:

1. Generate the HMIS collecting centre statement for the same period.
2. Compare line by line with the CC's invoice.
3. Resolve discrepancies by checking individual bill details.

Technical Reference

Item	Detail
FeeType	CollectingCentre in FeeType enum
Entity	CollectingCentre, CollectingCentreFee
Bill linkage	Collecting centre reference stored on Bill