This metric shows the number of completed appointments that do not have a billing with the same service date.
NOTE: This metric is available to our Best Practice software integration customers.
This metric provides a great way to locate any missed billing opportunities, the cause of which could range from Reception staff accidentally not billing them, or the doctor not putting a billing through at the end of the consult or day.
Given the additional challenges practices are dealing with, maximising cash flow from existing encounters are essential for the financial viability of the practice. With increased financial stability, the business is free to focus on caring for patients. In turn, this means more time can be spent on other activities that create more billing opportunities.
To navigate to this metric go to Clinic Optimisation tab > Billing Optimisation > Unbilled appointments.
The sections included in this article relating to unbilled appointments are:
- Unbilled appointments by Practitioner
- Unbilled appointments
- List of unbilled appointments
- Trend of unbilled appointments
TOP TIP! This is one of our most popular metrics in the Billing Optimisation cabinet! Use this metric to increase potential income and find any appointments that may have accidentally fallen through the cracks and weren't billed.
NOTE: A time limit of two years currently applies to the lodgement of claims with Medicare under the direct billing (assignment of benefit) arrangements. This means that currently, Medicare benefits are not payable for any service where the service was rendered more than two years earlier than the date the claim was lodged with Medicare.
Click here and here to find further information about it.
It has recently been announced that this claiming period will be reduced to 12 months from November 2025. Read more about it here."
Unbilled appointments by Practitioner
This metric shows the number of completed unbilled appointments for each Practitioner during the selected time period. An unbilled appointment is an appointment that has been marked as completed in your practice appointment book, but there is no invoice created for the date of service.
Selecting a Practitioner from the chart will filter the table below to show only that Practitioner's appointments. You can make changes to your Practitioner selection by using the Select Practitioner filter, or you can always remove all filters that have been applied by clicking on the Reset Filters button.
TOP TIP! Use this metric to reveal which individuals are not completing all appointments on the day, leading to a shortfall in their billing or income targets. This metric could indicate that clinical notes are not completed contemporaneously, potentially causing an increase in bulk-billing rate, missed billings, and delay of care for the patient.
Unbilled appointments
This metric details the total unbilled appointments for your selected date range. An unbilled appointment is an appointment that has been marked as completed in your practice appointment book, but there is no invoice created for the date of service. The default date range is last month. Use this metric to quickly see if you need to focus on unbilled appointments. If the number increases, then dive into the metric List of unbilled appointments for more detail.
NOTE: An unbilled appointment in Cubiko is where a patient has come in for an appointment and there is no corresponding invoice for that patient for that service date.
List of unbilled appointments
This table shows the details of unbilled appointments that took place during the selected time period. Once an invoice has been created that includes services with a service date that matches the appointment date, that appointment will disappear from this list.
TOP TIP! Review this list regularly e.g. every month, to know where you have last checked up too.
Understanding how your practice runs will help you to navigate these metrics. For example, you may not bill for certain items such as an appointment type ‘ROS’ when part of normal aftercare. In these cases, it’s best to use the above tip and to manage this list by reviewing at specific time frames so you do not have to check recurring unbilled appointments you have already dealt with. In addition, you may want to remove specific appointment types from this list using the 'Select appt type' filter.
TOP TIP! Once you have your filtered list of unbilled appointments, you can export the list to Excel using the download arrow on the table and then work through the list of unbilled appointments, billing where appropriate.
TOP TIP! Create a No-Fee custom item to apply to appointments that do not warrant a billing, such as normal aftercare.
Trend of unbilled appointments
This metric shows the trend of unbilled appointments by day, week or month; you can switch between the options by using the 'Group by' filter drop-down on the right-hand side of the metric.
Use this metric to understand and spot trends. Does it coincide with a new team member starting? Did you do something different that day and you can investigate why this occurred?
TOP TIP! Trend graphs are an insightful visualisation of data. You can incorporate trend graphs into your management reporting or communicate powerful points regarding data. For example, if you have started a new process whereby you check the unbilled appointments metric weekly, look at the trend 3 months before you started that process and three months afterward. Have billings increased?