Managing Charge Items and Categories

SigmaMD provides a structured way to manage charge items and categories, enhancing the efficiency of billing operations within your practice. This guide will explain how to create and manage charge items and categories, which are essential for organizing billing details and applying specific financial rules such as tax profiles and markups.

Creating and Managing Categories

Categories serve as organizational units for charge items, allowing you to group similar items under shared financial and inventory rules. You can create categories for Medication, General, Diagnostic Lab, or Diagnostic Imaging, depending on what you need to group.

Creating a New Category

To create a new category:

  1. Open Billing from the main menu and select Charge Items.

  2. Click on + Category, then choose either Medication or General, or connect to a diagnostic service.

  3. Fill in the item details:
    • Name: Define the category's name
    • Enable Inventory Tracking: Choose whether items in this category should be tracked in stock. This setting cannot be changed later.
    • Markup: Use the practice’s global markup, apply a percentage markup, apply a fixed amount markup, or select no markup for this category.

    • Sales Tax Profile: Apply the practice’s default tax profile, select another predefined profile, or opt out of sales tax entirely.

  4. Save the category to begin adding items to it.

Managing Existing Categories

All categories you create are listed with details such as status, type, number of items, inventory tracking, applied markup, and tax profile. From this view, you can:

  • Edit category details at any time (name, markup, or tax profile).
  • View the items associated with a category.

These settings ensure consistent pricing and tax handling across all items in the category, without the need to configure each one individually.

Inventory Items

Inventory items are products you track in stock, such as medications, vaccines, or other billable supplies. In SigmaMD, you can create two types of inventory items: Medication Inventory and General Inventory.

Adding a Medication Inventory Item

To create a new medication inventory item:

  1. In the Inventory table, click + Add Item and choose Medication inventory.

  2. Fill in the item details:
    • Medication: Type the medication name or Medi-Span code. If unit and strength are available, they will automatically populate.
    • Item name: This field is prefilled with the selected medication, but you can update it if needed. 
    • Category: Assign it to an existing medication category.
    • Low stock threshold: Optionally set a minimum alert.
    • Batch information: Add lot number, expiration date, package NDC, manufacturer, and supplier.
    • Inventory details: Enter the package count, and units per package.
    • Markup: Use the category’s markup, apply a percentage, fixed amount, or none.
    • Sales tax profile: Inherit from category, apply a custom profile, or select none.

    • Pricing: Enter the wholesale cost. The system will calculate both the base price and the retail price from this value.

  3. Save the item. It will appear in your inventory list with stock status indicators. When you dispense it to a patient or include it on an invoice, the quantity will be automatically deducted from your stock.

Adding a General Inventory Item

To create a new general inventory item:

  1. In the Inventory table, click + Add Item and choose General inventory.

  2. Fill in the item details:
    • Code: Enter a SKU code, or click the button to auto-generate one.
    • Item name: The name will be associated with all items with the same code.
    • Category: Assign it to a category.
    • Low stock threshold: Optionally set a minimum alert.
    • Batch information: Add lot number, expiration date, manufacturer, and supplier.
    • Inventory details: Enter the package count, and units per package.
    • Markup: Use the category’s markup, apply a percentage, fixed amount, or none.
    • Sales tax profile: Inherit from category, apply a custom profile, or select none.

    • Pricing: Enter the wholesale cost. The system will calculate both the base price and the retail price from this value.

  3. Save the item. It will appear in your inventory list with stock status indicators. When you include it on an invoice, the quantity will be automatically deducted from your stock.

Non-Inventory Items

Non-inventory items are billable services or products that you don’t track in stock. These are useful for services like lab tests, imaging, or other procedures. You can create two types: Medication Non-Inventory and General Non-Inventory.

Adding a Medication Non-Inventory Item

To add a non-trackable medication item:

  1. In the Non-inventory table, click + Add Item and choose Medication non-inventory.

  2. Fill in the item details:
    • Medication: Type the medication name or Medi-Span code. If unit and strength are available, they will automatically populate.
    • Name: This field is prefilled with the selected medication, but you can update it if needed. 
    • Category: Assign it to an existing medication category.
    • Batch information: Add lot number, expiration date, package NDC, manufacturer, and supplier.
    • Markup: Use the category’s markup, apply a percentage, fixed amount, or none.
    • Sales tax profile: Inherit from category, apply a custom profile, or select none.

    • Pricing: Enter the base price. The system will calculate the retail price for this item.

  3. Save the item. It will be added to your non-inventory list for use in invoices and billing.

Adding a General Non-Inventory Item

To create a general non-inventory item:

  1. In the Non-inventory table, click + Add Item and choose General non-inventory.

  2. Fill in the item details:
    • Code system: Choose between SKU or CPT.
    • Code: Enter a code. If SKU is selected, you can click the button to auto-generate a code.
    • Item name: The name will be associated with all items with the same code.
    • Category: Assign it to a category.
    • Batch information: Add lot number, expiration date, manufacturer, and supplier.
    • Markup: Use the category’s markup, apply a percentage, fixed amount, or none.
    • Sales tax profile: Inherit from category, apply a custom profile, or select none.

    • Pricing: Enter the base price. The system will calculate the retail price for this item.

  3. Save the item. It will be added to your non-inventory list for use in invoices and billing.

Utilizing Charge Items in Invoices

Charge items are utilized when creating invoices, where they can be selected and added based on the member's treatment or service requirements. For detailed instructions on creating invoices, refer to Guide to Creating Invoices.