Implant Control: a bill-only request in twelve steps
From the operating room to the purchase order.
A bill-only request is written after the surgery, from what the rep reports. Here is every step it takes in Implant Control, who acts at each, and how it is reconciled to the surgical case before your ERP ever creates a purchase order.
Two of the actors are files. Nobody at the hospital re-keys case data, and nobody re-keys a purchase order. The workflow ends at the purchase order number; invoice matching stays in your ERP.
The steps
A bill-only request, step by step
- 01The surgeryOperating room
- 02The case record arrivesEMR message
- 03The rep files the requestVendor rep
- 04Lines come from your contractVendor rep
- 05Your submission rules fireImplant Control
- 06Reconciled to the case, automaticallyImplant Control
- 07Re-checked when the case changesImplant Control
- 08Price checked, line by lineImplant Control
- 09The approver works the differencesApprover
- 10The requisition goes to your ERPERP message
- 11The purchase order number comes backERP message
- 12The evidence is keptAudit
From the operating room to the purchase order
Two of the actors are files. Nobody at the hospital re-keys case data, and nobody re-keys a purchase order.
Case data arrives from your EMR
Who acts: EMR message
Scheduled surgical case and schedule exports land by secure file transfer and load on their own, in order. An identical re-send is ignored; a changed row replaces the case snapshot.
The rep submits the request
Who acts: Vendor rep
After the case, the vendor rep signs in to a portal scoped to their own vendors and files the bill-only request against the real surgery: date, hospital, department, surgeon, procedure, case number, cost center.
Lines come from your contract
Who acts: Vendor rep
Contracted products are picked from your price list at your price, with quantity, lot and serial. Anything off contract is entered separately and flagged. Wasted, trial and explanted items are marked.
Your submission rules fire
Who acts: Automatic checks
A late request needs a written justification, a too-late request is refused, and a case number already on another active request is flagged as a duplicate.
The request is matched to the case
Who acts: Automatic checks
Catalog numbers, quantities, unit price and supplier are compared with what the surgical case record says was used, counting only quantity that no other request has already claimed.
Clean requests move, the rest explain themselves
Who acts: Approver
A clean match shows as pre-approved for the approver to confirm, or is approved automatically if you turn that on. Everything else lists exactly what differs, and the approver approves it, sends it back to the rep to correct, or declines it.
Your ERP gets the requisition
Who acts: ERP message
Approved requests leave on a schedule as a requisition file priced from the contract, and your ERP creates the purchase order. When the ERP returns the number it is matched back, the request completes, and the rep is emailed the number.
The same request, step by step
Twelve steps from the surgery to the evidence that stays behind. Automatic case reconciliation is steps six and seven.
- 01
Operating room
The surgery
An implant is used and documented in the case record, as it is today. The operating room does nothing new.
- 02
EMR message
The case record arrives
Scheduled surgical case and schedule exports land by secure file transfer and load on their own, in order. A re-sent file is ignored; a changed row replaces the case snapshot.
- 03
Vendor rep
The rep files the request
After the case, the rep signs in to a portal scoped to their own vendors and files the bill-only request against the real surgery: date, hospital, surgeon, procedure, case number, cost center.
- 04
Vendor rep
Lines come from your contract
Contracted products are picked from your price list at your price, with quantity, lot and serial. Anything off contract is entered separately and flagged. Wasted, trial and explanted items are marked.
- 05
Implant Control
Your submission rules fire
A late request needs a written justification, a too-late request is refused, and a case number already on another active request is flagged as a duplicate.
- 06
Implant Control
Reconciled to the case, automatically
Every line is matched to the surgical case record on catalog number, quantity, unit price and supplier, with catalog numbers cleaned of dashes and case. Quantity one request has claimed is not available to the next. “Case not found” is an answer, not a silent pass.
- 07
Implant Control
Re-checked when the case changes
When the EMR later sends corrected case data, pending requests validate again on their own, and approved ones are flagged as changed after approval instead of being quietly rewritten.
- 08
Implant Control
Price checked, line by line
Contract price, quantity and requested amount on every line, with the difference highlighted. A construct price is applied to the lines it covers and warns when it covers nothing.
- 09
Approver
The approver works the differences
A clean match shows as pre-approved to confirm, or is approved automatically if you turn that on. Everything else lists exactly what differs: approve it, send it back to the rep, or decline it.
- 10
ERP message
The requisition goes to your ERP
Approved requests leave on a schedule as a requisition file priced from the contract, and your ERP creates the purchase order.
- 11
ERP message
The purchase order number comes back
When the ERP returns the number it is matched to the request, the request completes, and the rep is emailed the number. Invoice matching stays in your ERP.
- 12
Audit
The evidence is kept
Every validation run records which case lines satisfied which request lines, with a readable log and a before-and-after change history, so an approval can be defended later.
Did we implant what we were billed for?
Checking a request against a price file is half the question. The other half is whether the item was used at all. Every request is reconciled to the surgical case record, line by line.
- Catalog numbers, cleaned
- Dashes, dots, spaces and letter case are ignored, so S-2301-2852 and S23012852 are the same screw. Quantities are summed across duplicate lines on both sides before they are compared.
- The right case, found by rule
- You choose which fields identify a case: case number, medical record number with leading zeros ignored, surgery date, supplier. “Case not found” is an answer, not a silent pass.
- One implant, billed once
- A surgery often produces several requests from several vendors. Quantity claimed by one request is not available to the next, and is released automatically if that request is rejected or deleted.
- Still right after approval
- When the EMR later sends corrected case data, pending requests validate again on their own, and approved ones are flagged as changed after approval instead of being quietly rewritten.
- Evidence kept
- Every validation run records which case lines satisfied which request lines, with a readable log and history, so an approval can be defended later.
The price you negotiated is the price on the request
An overcharge caught while the request is pending goes back to the rep before any purchase order exists. The same overcharge found in an audit costs a credit, a rebill and a quarter.
- Contract price is structural
- Reps choose from the hospital’s contract catalog, so contracted items arrive at the negotiated price rather than whatever was typed. The approver sees contract price, quantity and requested amount on every line, with the difference highlighted.
- Off-contract items are visible before approval
- A non-contract line is flagged on the request and in the queue, and you decide whether a request containing one can ever be approved automatically.
- Construct pricing is applied and measured
- Apply a capitation to the lines it covers and the system bills the flat amount, shows the saving against line-item pricing, and warns in red when a capitation covers nothing or costs more than the parts it covers.
Your bill-only policy, enforced on every submission
One settings screen per organization decides how many days after surgery a request needs a written justification, when it is refused outright, how duplicate case numbers are treated, which fields identify a case, and what may never be approved automatically. The software holds the line, so reminder emails do not have to.
The page written for vendor repsWork out what late and off-contract requests cost in a year
Walk one request from submission to purchase order
Bring a month of bill-only requests, or just describe how they reach you today. We will walk one through the product: submission, the contract and case checks, approval, and the hand-off to your ERP.