What is a charge?

Every dollar in billing starts life as a charge. A charge is one line of money owed: a service, a code, and a price.

A charge has five parts:

• Code, which names the service, like a standard office visit.
• Type, which says whether it goes to insurance or is paid in cash.
• Units, which is how many.
• Fee, which is the price. Your fee schedule fills this in for you.
• Date of service, which is the day of the visit.

There are two kinds, and the difference matters every day.

An insurance charge will later ride on a claim, out to the payer. A cash charge stays on the patient’s account and never wires to a payer. A flu shot the patient pays for themselves is a cash charge. That is completely normal, and the system will never let a cash charge join an insurance claim.

Charges live on the patient’s account, not on the claim. The claim comes and goes. The account is where the balance always lives. See Where does the money live: on the claim or on the account?.