Patient Billing Essay

Patient billing System is very important. These are collections of information’s about a patient’s health history. Doctors and the others personnel of the hospital like nurses write is medical records so that they can used the information’s again when the patient’s come back to the hospital. It is job of patient’s registry records works to make sure that the information is intact and available anytime when the patient returns to the hospital. Many hospitals in India still manage the patient data manually. Hospitals will be able to save money and time if they have a good software program for  managing patient’s data. The idea is to develop web based patient billing software that can be used to keep track of the patients registering in a hospital or clinic. Doctors and the rooms available in a hospital can be managed using this system. Also, this system should support accessing the previous visit histories of any patient, search for patients by name etc. * A patient can be categorized as â€Å"In patient† or â€Å"Out Patient†. If patient type is â€Å"In Patient†, a bed will be assigned to the patient. * A doctor will be assigned to each patient before the patient meets the doctor. Only one doctor can be assigned to a patient at a given time. * A patient can visit the hospital any number of times Administrator will have complete control of the system. She/he can Add/Edit/Delete patients, Add/Edit/Delete Doctors, Add/Edit/Delete Beds, Search for patients, Assign patients to doctors. Doctor can access a patient’s record and update his observations about the patient in that particular visit. ABOUT BILLING: Hospital bill for inpatient will include a room charge, which covers room, meals, nursing care, housekeeping, maintenance, medical records and admitting services. Bill will also include itemized charges for specific ancillary services such as laboratory, medications, X-rays and use of the operating room, surgical day care, recovery room, physical therapy and other services. Hospital bill for outpatient will include consultation charges and also include itemized charges. Bill will not include visits by physician and fees for radiology (interpretation of X-rays), anesthesiology, emergency medicine, surgery, and other professional services and consultations provided by physicians. These will be billed separately by the physician. EXISTING SYSTEM: The existing system of the patient billing is completely manual. The secretary or the receptionist will write patient information into a medical  form. The clinician takes the medical history of the patient, writes diagnosis and treatment on the form. The Clinician sometimes can refer the patient to the laboratory for medical test before diagnosis depending on the situation of the patient. All the patient form are collected and kept in the filling cabinet for follow up check and future use Disadvantages of Existing system: * The existing system needs to save patients information in the form of excel sheets. * The manual system gives us very less security for saving data. * Some data may be lost due to mismanagement. * Searching of particular room vacancy information is very critical where it takes lot of time. * This system is not having the facility of tracking transfers of patients from the general ward to the ICU and vice versa. * Cannot Upload and Download the latest updates. * No use of Web Services and Remoting. * The existing system is Less user friendly Proposed system: The modern computerized system is developed with the aim to overcome the drawbacks of existing system. The proposed system has got many advantages. It will improve the keeping of medical records of the patient, can handle data efficiently, more accurate in filling and retrieving of records. Since the necessary data is available in one place and the computer is able to manipulate it like sorting, stratifying, then the reports are easy to make unlike using the manual system. The Proposed system directly maps on database and its focuses in adding, searching, modifying, printing and saving of the medical history/ diagnosis of the patient. †¢ This system can provide the information about the patient based on the ward number whether the patient is either in the general ward or the ICU immediately. †¢ By using this system we can prepare all bills pending to be paid by a patient before the patient’s discharge which is computerized. Advantages of proposed system: * User friendliness is provided in the application with various controls. * The system makes much easier and flexible. * Readily upload the latest updates. * There is no risk of data mismanagement at any level. * It provides high level of security with different level of authentication. * We can keep a track of all beds occupied / free in both the ward and the ICU by using this system. * We can keep track of all transfers of patients from the general ward to the ICU and vice versa. * This system is providing the facility of viewing all information about patients details, their admit time and the amount to be paid based on the treatment given and the ward selected. * We can register all the patient details like the amount to be paid / any balance remaining, the ward number, the bed number, the registration number, case number etc. as soon as a new patient is joined in the hospital MODULES: 1. Search module 2. Appointment module 3. Bill generation module 4. Payment module 5. Security & authentication module 6. Reports module 1. Search module: This module facilitates the receptionist for searching about the patient’s past history, availability of Doctors & their timings, Doctors details & also about the doctor’s movement from one branch to another branch. This module keep a track of all beds occupied /free in both the ward and the ICU. Keep a track of all transfers of patients from the general ward to the ICU and vice versa. We can also view the patient details like the ward number, the bed number, the registration number, case number etc. It also help the patient for searching the branches details of the hospital, timings of the hospital, availability of the Doctors & their timings, availability of the appointments etc. 2. Appointment module: This module is dealing with assigning a doctor to each patient before the patient meets the doctor based on their availability. Only one doctor can be assigned to a patient at a given time 3. Bill generation module: This module is dealing with generation of the bills for inpatient which contains the details of all patients, their admit time and the amount to be paid based on the treatment given and the ward selected. We can also view the patient details like amount to be paid / any balance remaining etc. This module also deals with the generation of the bills for outpatient which contains consultation fees. The bill may include itemized charges for specific ancillary services such as laboratory, medications, X-rays and use of the operating room, surgical day care, recovery room, physical therapy and other services. separate bill will be generated for radiology (interpretation of X-rays), anesthesiology, emergency medicine, surgery, and other professional services etc. 4. Payment module: This module is dealing with the payment of bill through the credit card or cash. 5.Security and Authentication: * Login as Receptionist or administrator * Change password * Forgot Password 6. Reports: In this Module, Different actors can generate the different types of Reports according to their access. FEASIBILITY STUDY: Preliminary investigation examine project feasibility, the likelihood the system will be useful to the organization. The main objective of the feasibility study is to test the technical, operational and economical feasibility for adding new modules and debugging old running system. All system is feasible if they are unlimited resources and infinite time. These are aspects in the feasibility study portion of the preliminary investigation. 1. Technical feasibility 2. Operational feasibility 3. Economical feasibility Technical Feasibility: The technical issue usually raised during the feasibility stage of the investigation includes the following: * Does the necessary technology exist to do what is suggested? * Do the proposed equipments have the technical capacity to hold the data required to use the new system? * Will the proposed system provide adequate response to inquiries, regardless of the number or location of users? * Can the system be upgraded if developed? * Are there technical guarantees of accuracy, reliability, ease of access and data security? Permission to the users would be granted based on the roles specified. Therefore, it provides the technical guarantee of accuracy, reliability and security. The software and hardware requirements for the development of this project are not many and are available as free as open source. The work for the project is done with the current equipment and existing software technology. Necessary bandwidth exists for providing a fast feedback to the users irrespective of the number of users using the system. OPERATIONAL FEASIBILITY: Proposed projects are beneficial only if they can be turned out into information system. That will meet the organization’s operating requirements. Operational feasibility aspects of the project are to be taken as an important part of the project implementation. some of the important issues raised are to test the operational feasibility of a project includes the following: * Is there sufficient support for the management from the users? * Will the system be used and work properly if it is being developed and implemented? * Will there be any resistance from the user that will undermine the possible application benefits? This system is targeted to be in accordance with the above mentioned issues. Beforehand, the management issues and user requirements have been taken into consideration. So, there is no question of resistance from the users that can undermine the possible application benefits. The well planned design would ensure the optimal utilization of the computer resources and would help in the improvement of performance status. ECONOMICAL FEASIBILITY: A system can be developed technically and that will be used if installed must still be a good Investment for the organization. In the economical feasibility, the development cost in creating the system is evaluated against the ultimate benefit derived from the new systems. Financial benefits must equal or exceed the costs. The system is economically feasible. It does not require any addition hardware or software. Since the interface for this system is developed using the existing resources and technologies, there is nominal expenditure and economical feasibility for certain. SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS: Operating system:Windows XP Browser:Internet Explorer 5.5 User Interface:HTML, CSS Client side scripting:JavaScript Programming Language:Java Web Applications:JDBC, JSP Database:Oracle10g Connection:TCP/IP Protocol:HTTP,SMTP,POP3 HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS: Processor:Pentium IV Hard Disk:Minimum 40GB RAM:512MB or more