Fee Schedule Importer For Centricity® CPS / athenaPractice™
Fee Schedule Importer is designed for a simple, efficient method of importing fee schedules into athenahealth (formerly GE) Centricity. Simply setup a new fee schedule as normally would in your Centricity Software. and choose that fee schedule to import into from the Fee Importer
How to Setup Fee Schedule Excel Spreadsheet
1. The first row of the spreadsheet should contain column descriptions.
2. Every column with data must have a column description.
3. Data needs to start on second row.
4. Every cell must have an entry. If the value is 0, it must contain 0 and not be left blank.
5. TROUBLESHOOTING: On occasion, there are special characters that are not visible to the user in the cells below the data. Unless you created the spreadsheet yourself, we recommend highlighting the data in the spreadsheet and copying it to a new spreadsheet to ensure that only the cells you want to work with are included. The invisible characters can cause errors.
6. The spreadsheet columns do NOT have to be in any certain order.
**Important Note: The importer will only make changes to fee schedules and procedures that already exist in Centricity. It will not set up or import fee schedules or procedure codes, only information for existing codes for a given fee schedule.
Importing Fee Schedules
1. Under File on the toolbar, select Import SS.
2. Navigate to the location of the spreadsheet that contains the data to import.
3, The program will read the spreadsheet to verify that there are no errors in the file.
**Important Note: The spreadsheet must be closed for the program to read the file.
4. The program shows the process of the Importing of the Spreadsheet in the lower left corner, once it is complete you will see ‘Import File Read’ message.
5. Under Connections, you may need to select the database that the Fee Schedule is located in so that the existing Fee Schedule in your Centricity database will populate.
6. Select the fee schedule from the list that you want your excel spreadsheet to import into.
7. The following explains each of the import options:
a. Match with Column – using the drop down menu, select which column in your spreadsheet you want to match with the Centricity CPT Code/Code.
b. Import Type – using the drop down menu, select how you wish to update the fee schedule data.
i. Only Insert New Values = the data will only be added if no data exists for that procedure/fee schedule
ii. Only Update Existing Values = the data will only be added if there is already data for that procedure/fee schedule
iii. Insert and Update = the data will be added if no data exists for that procedure/fee schedule and existing data will be updated
c. The remaining items are options you can choose to change for existing procedures in the selected fee schedule that match procedures in the spreadsheet. NOTE: If the checkbox to the left of the item is grayed out, it will NOT be included in the import.
i. Fee, RVU Fee, Fee Conv Factor, Allowed, RVU Allowed, Allowed Conv Factor, Cost, Fee Limit Min and Max, Procedure Note Code, Contract Type, Revenue Code – check the applicable boxes that you want to be affected in the import. For each checked item, select which column from your spreadsheet to which the item should match. NOTE: The spreadsheet value in Procedure Note Code column will need to be spelled exactly as the Procedure Note is spelled in CPS.
NOTE: The spreadsheet value in Contract Type will need to be spelled exactly as the Contract Type in CPS.
ii. Type of Service, Place of Service, Global Period (days), Effective, Expiration, Ledger, Alternate Payer – check the applicable boxes that you want affected in the import and indicate the content of each. NOTE: The spreadsheet value in Alternate Payer column can be blank, “N”, or “Y”. “Y” will check mark the box within the Fee Schedule option for “Use Alternate Payer”.
iii. For the items on the right side column:
1. Checking the box will check the box in the Centricity fee schedule for all affected procedures.
2. Un-checking the box will un-check the box in the Centricity fee schedule for all affected procedures.
3. Leaving the box grayed out will leave the field as it is in the Centricity fee schedule.
iv. To include the same Procedure note for all affected procedures in the selected fee schedule, check the Procedure Note box and write the note in the space provided.
8. After making all the selections for what is to be inserted / updated, select from the menu- Import and then select Execute to make the changes in Centricity. It is indicated in the lower left corner when the updates are completed.
Fee Schedule Importer offers a Reporting option for users to compare fee schedule allowed amounts setup in Centricity against actual allowed amounts based on EOB information from the primary insurance carrier on a ticket.
The Reports feature provides different search criteria for analyzing allowed amount data at the ticket level.
Based on selected criteria, results will display in the preview window. Results can be exported to a .csv format for further analysis in Microsoft Excel.
