Set up pricing

Introduction

Pricing controls what reception charges and what finance expects to reconcile. A clear pricing setup prevents manual overrides, patient disputes, unpaid balances, and incorrect invoices.

Start with simple base prices. Add special prices only after the normal cash workflow is correct. If your lab uses contracts, insurance, doctor agreements, company accounts, or partner lab pricing, document who owns each price list and when it applies.

Base prices

Every active test and package should have a base price. This is the default amount used for cash patients when no other pricing rule applies.

Review base prices with the owner or finance manager before reception starts. A test without a price can lead to manual decisions at the front desk, and manual decisions create inconsistent collections.

When importing or adding many tests, review high-volume tests first. The first live day usually depends more on common tests than rare catalog items.

Contracts and special price lists

Use special price lists when a company, insurer, doctor, branch, or partner lab has agreed prices different from cash pricing. Keep each list narrow and named clearly.

For every price list, define:

• Who the price list belongs to.
• Which tests or packages it affects.
• Whether prices are fixed amounts or percentage changes.
• When the list starts and ends.
• Who approved it.
• Whether reception can select it manually or it is applied automatically.

Do not create duplicate price lists for the same agreement. If a contract changes, update it carefully and keep a record of the reason.

Insurance and company billing

Insurance and company billing may affect what the patient pays now and what remains due from another party. Make sure reception understands eligibility, coverage notes, co-payment, and invoice ownership before confirming the order.

If insurance approval is required, decide whether orders can be created before approval or must wait. Make the rule clear so reception does not promise coverage that finance cannot collect.

Discounts

Discounts should be controlled. Decide which roles can apply discounts, what limits they have, and whether a reason is required.

Use configured discount rules for common cases such as campaigns, staff discounts, repeat patients, or owner-approved promotions. Avoid using manual price changes to fix catalog mistakes. If the catalog price is wrong, correct the catalog.

Review discount reports regularly. Frequent discounts by one user, branch, doctor, or campaign may need management review.

Payment methods

Define payment methods before creating live orders. Common methods include cash, card, wallet, bank transfer, insurance, company credit, and partner account.

Each method should map to an account finance can reconcile. If the cashier cannot match a payment method to an account at shift close, reports will become unclear.

Decide whether partial payments are allowed and what happens when a balance remains. Some labs allow result release before full payment; others block release until payment is complete. Configure the rule that matches your policy.

Test the pricing setup

Create sample orders for the most important scenarios:

• Cash patient with normal base prices.
• Patient with a package.
• Patient with a discount.
• Company or contract patient.
• Insurance patient with patient share and insurer share.
• Order with partial payment if allowed.

For each scenario, check the order total, paid amount, remaining balance, receipt, invoice, and cashier report. If any scenario looks wrong, fix pricing before training reception.

Daily pricing checks

Reception should stop and ask for help when a price looks wrong. The answer is usually in one of these areas:

• Missing base price.
• Wrong contract selected.
• Patient linked to the wrong insurer or company.
• Discount applied outside its intended scope.
• Package missing one of its test prices.
• Currency or branch context is wrong.

Fix the configuration instead of asking staff to remember manual exceptions.