How to Capture an Invoice

How to capture an invoice

What: A form that lets you record and submit a billing claim for services provided to a patient, including procedures, medicines, and consumables.

Why: It ensures every billable service is captured accurately and submitted to the patient's medical aid or recorded as a cash transaction — keeping the inbox clear and the practice's income on track.

When: After completing a consultation or any billable service — either directly from the patient's account or triggered automatically at checkout from the Waiting Room.

Other ways to start capturing an invoice

There are two ways to get to the Capture Invoice form: search for the patient from Accounts (steps 1 to 8 below), or let Healthbridge Nova open it for you automatically when you check a patient out of the Waiting Room.

Automatically, when you check a patient out of the Waiting Room

On the Calendar, the Waiting Room panel sits on the right, empty until a patient is checked in.

Calendar screen with the Waiting Room panel on the right side, showing an empty Nothing to show state and an Add walk-in button

The Waiting Room panel before a patient is checked in.

Click a patient's appointment block to open its details, then click 'Check in'.

Calendar screen with an appointment block clicked, showing a popup with the patient's name, appointment time, and a Check in button

You should see: the patient's card move into the Waiting Room panel on the right, each with its own check-out icon. Hovering it shows a 'Check patient out' tooltip. For the full check-in steps and other appointment actions, see How to add an appointment to the Calendar.

Waiting Room panel showing a patient card for test accnu with the check-out icon hovered, revealing a Check patient out tooltip

The patient's card in the Waiting Room, with the check-out icon hovered.

Click it. The patient's card disappears from the Waiting Room immediately, and a dialog appears asking: "An invoice has not yet been created for this visit. Would you like to do it now?"

Dialog asking An invoice has not yet been created for this visit, would you like to do it now, with No and Yes buttons

You should see: clicking 'Yes' takes you straight to the Capture Invoice form (the same v2 form as step 4 below), with 'Patient', 'Date of service', 'Link to appointment', 'Treating provider', 'Branch' and 'Place of service' all pre-filled from the appointment, and 'Invoice type' set from whether the appointment was billed as private or medical aid. You only need to add the diagnosis and line items, then submit, same as steps 7 and 8 below.

Capture Invoice form opened automatically after checkout, with patient, date of service, link to appointment, treating provider, branch, place of service and invoice type already filled in

Click 'No' instead: if billing was already handled separately, or if you'd rather capture the invoice later from the Accounts tab.

No 'Quick Launch Menu': There's no separate shortcut menu for jumping straight to Capture Invoice — the top navigation bar, Calendar, and Accounts don't have one. The purple icon next to patient search opens an "Add-Ons and Integrations" page, unrelated to invoicing.

Steps

1. Click 'Accounts' in the main navigation bar

Location: top navigation bar › click 'Accounts'

Accounts page showing the search form and empty results table

You should see: the Accounts search screen with a search field and an empty results table.

2. Search for the patient

Location: Accounts page › 'Search' field at the top

Click the 'Search' field and type the patient's surname, name, or account number. Then click 'Search'.

Accounts search showing results for a search term with surname, name, date of birth, account number, and scheme columns

You should see: the patient's row appear in the results table below.

3. Click the patient's row to open their account

Location: Accounts results table › click anywhere on the patient's row

Patient account overview showing account details and Capture invoice link in the left sidebar

You should see: the patient's name, account number, and balance summary on screen.

4. Click 'Capture invoice' in the account sidebar

Location: account sidebar › near the top, below 'Account details'

Click 'Capture invoice'. The invoice form opens.

Capture Invoice form showing patient details, date of service, treating provider, place of service, invoice type, and line items table

You should see: the Capture Invoice form with the patient's name shown at the top.

Incomplete invoices warning: If a red banner appears saying "There are incomplete invoices in the Inbox", review those invoices before submitting a new one to avoid duplicate claims.

5. Fill in the invoice header fields

Location: invoice form › top section

Complete the following required fields:

'Date of service' — pre-filled with today's date; change if the service was on a different day
'Treating provider' — select the doctor or provider who delivered the service
'Place of service' — defaults to Consulting room; change if the service took place elsewhere. Options are Consulting room, Day clinic / hospital, Inpatient hospital, and Telemedicine. This isn't just informational — a percentage billing rate can be scoped to specific places of service, so the wrong selection here can mean the wrong rate applies.
'Invoice type' — select 'Medical Aid' for medical aid patients or 'Cash' for private patients

Changing provider clears line items: If you change the Treating provider after adding line items, all line items will be removed. Always select the provider first.

6. Expand 'Additional claim information' (if required)

Location: invoice form › collapsible section below the header fields

Click 'Additional claim information' to expand the section. Fill in any relevant fields:

'Authorisation' — enter the medical aid authorisation number if one was issued
'Admission date' and 'Discharge date' — for hospital or day procedure claims
'Referral no.' and 'Referring provider' — if the patient was referred
'Assisting provider' — if a second provider assisted
'Newborn' toggle — for newborn claims
'Lab reference no.' — for pathology claims

Additional claim information section expanded showing authorisation, admission, discharge, referral and assisting provider fields

7. Search for a diagnosis code and add line items

Location: invoice form › diagnosis search and line items table

Type a diagnosis in the 'Search for a diagnosis' field. You can search by ICD-10 code or description. Select the matching result to add it to the invoice.

Then click '+ Add a line' to add a billing line. For each line, complete:

'Line type' — Procedure, Medicine, or Consumable
'Tariff code' — the billing code for the procedure or item
'Nappi code' — required for medicines and consumables
'Description' — auto-fills when a valid tariff code is entered
'Qty' — quantity; defaults to 1

Line items table showing a new line row with Line type, Tariff code, Nappi code, Description, Qty, and Price fields

Multiple claims not supported: One invoice can include multiple line items, but the entire invoice is submitted as a single claim. You cannot split line items into separate claims at submission.

8. Click 'Submit' to save and send the invoice

Location: bottom right of the invoice form › click 'Submit'

Click 'Submit' to save the invoice and send it to the medical aid or record it as a cash transaction.

Bottom of the invoice form showing line items, Total, and the Submit button on the right

You can also click 'Save for later' to keep the invoice as a draft in the Inbox without submitting it. Use 'Create template' to save the current line items as a reusable template for future invoices.

You should see: the invoice disappear from the form and the patient's account balance update to reflect the new invoice.

Capture a series of invoices at once

The 'Series invoice' toggle lets you capture invoice lines for several different dates of service under one claim header, useful for a specialist billing multiple hospital visits or a physiotherapist billing multiple sessions, instead of repeating steps 1 to 8 for every single date.

9. Toggle 'Series invoice' on

Location: invoice form › below the incomplete invoices warning, click 'Series invoice'

Click the 'Series invoice' toggle near the top of the Capture Invoice form. This switches the form from a single dated invoice into a set of date of service tabs that share one claim header.

Capture Invoice form with the Series invoice toggle switched on, showing the Date of service field relabelled to earliest in series and a single 01/09/2026 date tab below the header fields

You should see: the 'Date of service' field relabel itself to 'Date of service (earliest in series)' and grey out, and a row of date tabs appear below the header fields, starting with a tab for today's date.

What Healthbridge Nova says it does: Hovering the small info icon next to the toggle shows this tooltip: "Capture invoices across multiple dates of service, all with the same header information, and only submit once the entire series is finished."

10. Fill in the header fields, then add a tab for each date of service

Location: invoice form › header fields, then click '+ Add' next to the date tabs

Complete 'Treating provider', 'Branch', 'Place of service' and 'Invoice type' the same way as a normal invoice (see step 5). These header fields apply once to the whole series, not separately per date.

Then click '+ Add' next to the date tabs to add another date of service. Each new tab gets its own 'Date of service' field (it defaults to the day after the last tab, but you can change it) and its own 'Link to appointment' field.

Capture Invoice form showing two date of service tabs, 01/09/2026 and 11/09/2026, with a plus Add button to create further tabs

Invoice type options depend on the account: The 'Invoice type' dropdown only lists options the account actually supports. On a private, cash-only test account it offered 'Cash', 'Medical insurance' and 'No Charge', with no 'Medical Aid' option at all, because no medical scheme was linked to that account. Select 'Medical Aid' only when it appears in the dropdown for the patient you're billing.

11. Add a diagnosis and line items to each date tab

Location: invoice form › click a date tab, then use its diagnosis search and line items table

Click a date tab to make it active, then search for a diagnosis in 'Search for a diagnosis' and select a match, the same as step 7. Add line items underneath the same way as a normal invoice: each date tab has its own independent line items table and its own running total.

First date tab 01/09/2026 with diagnosis J06.0 applied to a 0190 procedure line

Second date tab 11/09/2026 with its own diagnosis J06.0 applied separately to its own 0190 procedure line

'Apply to all lines' does not mean all dates: With 'Apply to all lines' ticked (the default), selecting a diagnosis on one date tab applies it to every line item on that date tab only — it does not carry over to the other date tabs in the series. Search for and select a diagnosis separately on each date tab.

12. Save or submit the whole series

Location: bottom right of the invoice form › click 'Save for later' or 'Submit'

Click 'Save for later' to save every date tab in the series as one draft, or 'Submit' to submit every date tab at once. Both buttons act on the entire series in a single click: you do not save or submit each date separately.

Bottom of a series invoice with two date tabs filled in, showing Save for later and Submit buttons

You should see: after saving, a new row in Inbox › Invoices labelled 'Complete saved series' in the Action column, distinct from the plain 'Complete saved' label used for a normal single-date draft. Opening that row takes you to a dedicated 'Complete Saved Series Invoice' screen with every date tab, diagnosis and line item exactly as you left them.

Inbox Invoices list filtered by Complete saved series, showing rows for account 50 test accnu

'Balance billing' needs a medical aid invoice: Nova's Series invoice screen can also show a 'Balance billing - automatic movement' checkbox next to 'Apply to all lines', for manually splitting an invoice between what the patient owes and what the medical aid owes. It only appears once 'Invoice type' is set to 'Medical Aid' — it won't show for Cash, Medical insurance, or No Charge invoices.

Frequently asked

Q: Can I use a template to speed up capturing?

Yes. After selecting the treating provider, click 'Templates' in the invoice form to expand the templates section. Select a saved template and its diagnoses and line items will be pre-filled. You can still edit any field before submitting.

Q: What is the difference between Submit and Save for later?

'Submit' finalises the invoice and sends it to the medical aid or records it as a cash transaction. 'Save for later' saves the invoice as an incomplete draft in the Inbox, which you can return to and complete. Incomplete invoices appear as a warning banner on the Capture Invoice form for the same patient.

Q: Why did my line items disappear when I changed the provider?

Changing the Treating provider after adding line items clears all lines, because prices and tariffs are provider-specific. Always confirm the correct provider before adding line items.

Q: Can I cancel an invoice after submitting?

Yes, but only if the invoice has not yet been processed by the medical aid. Go to the patient's Transactions tab, locate the invoice, and use the available action to cancel or reverse it. Contact your billing administrator if the option is not available.

Q: How do I bill Rand Mutual Assurance (RMA) or another COID claim?

RMA is not a registered medical scheme — it's a social insurer/administrator for occupational injury claims (COID), so it can't be billed like a normal medical aid claim. Record the invoice as a cash patient first, then update the 'Invoice type' field to 'Medical insurance' (a separate option from 'Cash', 'Medical Aid', and 'No Charge').

Q: Does 'Apply to all lines' apply across every date in a series invoice?

No. With 'Series invoice' on, 'Apply to all lines' only applies a diagnosis to every line item within the date tab you currently have open. If your series has three dates, you need to search for and select a diagnosis separately on each of the three date tabs, even though the checkbox stays ticked by default on all of them.

Q: Where is the 'Balance billing' option for splitting a claim between patient and medical aid?

It shows as a 'Balance billing - automatic movement' checkbox next to 'Apply to all lines', but only once 'Invoice type' is set to 'Medical Aid' — it doesn't appear for 'Cash', 'Medical insurance', or 'No Charge' invoices.

How to Capture an Invoice