> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.clinikehr.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Create and send an invoice

> Build a hospital invoice from your service catalogue, email it to the patient, an employer or an insurer, and know why some cannot be deleted.

export const AuditNote = ({action = 'This action'}) => <div className="ck-callout ck-callout--info" role="note">
    <p className="ck-callout__body">
      {action} is written to your workspace's audit log with your name, the
      record touched and the time — a HIPAA requirement, and one you can review
      yourself under <strong>Audit Log</strong>. See{' '}
      <a href="/platform/security/audit-log">Audit log</a>.
    </p>
  </div>;

export const StillStuck = ({topic}) => <div className="ck-callout ck-callout--note" role="note">
    <p className="ck-callout__body">
      <strong>Still stuck{topic ? ` with ${topic}` : ''}?</strong>{' '}
      Check <a href="/platform/help/troubleshooting">Troubleshooting</a> first —
      it covers the failures we see most often. If that does not resolve it,{' '}
      <a href="/platform/help/contact-support">contact support</a> and include
      your workspace name and the time the problem happened, so we can find the
      matching entry in your audit log.
    </p>
  </div>;

export const TaskHeader = ({before, time, after}) => <div className="ck-task">
    {before ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Before you start</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{before}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {time ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Takes about</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{time}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {after ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">When you're done</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{after}</p>
      </div> : null}
  </div>;

export const Path = ({steps = []}) => <span className="ck-path">
    {steps.map((s, i) => <span key={i} className="ck-path__step">
        {i > 0 ? <span className="ck-path__sep" aria-hidden="true">
            ›
          </span> : null}
        {s}
      </span>)}
  </span>;

export const Availability = ({editions = ['all'], plans, roles, note}) => {
  const list = editions.includes('all') ? ['clinic', 'pharmacy', 'lims'] : editions;
  return <div className="ck-avail" role="note" aria-label="Feature availability">
      <span className="ck-avail__label">Available in</span>

      {list.map(e => <span key={e} className={`ck-pill ck-pill--${e}`}>
          {EDITION_LABELS[e] || e}
        </span>)}

      {plans ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Plan</span> : null}
      {plans ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--plan">{plans}</span> : null}

      {roles ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Who</span> : null}
      {roles ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--role">{roles}</span> : null}

      {note ? <span className="ck-avail__note">{note}</span> : null}
    </div>;
};

<Availability editions={['clinic']} plans="Enterprise" roles="Anyone permitted to create billing documents" />

An invoice lists what a patient owes the hospital, in your currency, and can be emailed as a branded PDF to the patient, to whoever is actually paying, or to both. This page covers building one, sending it, and what you can and cannot do to it afterwards.

<Path steps={['Sidebar', 'Billing', 'New Invoice']} />

<TaskHeader before="At least one service in your catalogue, and a patient record to bill" time="2 minutes" after="A Pending invoice, emailed as a PDF to the recipients you chose" />

## What you're looking at

The form is headed **Create Invoice** and three cards long.

**Invoice Details** — "Basic invoice information" — holds **Select Patient \*** ("Search for a patient..."), **Invoice Date \*** (today by default) and **Due Date** (thirty days out, "Payment expected by this date"). A patient on a membership is badged **★ \{plan} member**, with "Member pricing auto-applies to added services."

**Invoice Items** — "Add services and items to this invoice" — has a service search reading "Search services to add..." and a **Custom Item** button. Each line carries **Description**, **Type**, **CPT/HCPCS**, **Qty**, **Unit Price**, **Disc %** and **Total**. With nothing added it says **No items added yet**.

**Notes & Discounts** holds **Global Discount (%)** ("Applied to subtotal before tax"), **Tax Rate (%)** and **Notes (Optional)**. Alongside sits **Invoice Summary** — the lines, **Subtotal**, discount, tax and **Total** — and a submit button showing the amount you are about to raise.

## Create the invoice

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the form">
    Select **New Invoice** on the **Billing** page, or start one from the patient's record so the patient is filled in for you.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose who it is for">
    **Select Patient \*** searches your patient list. The chosen patient's hospital number appears beside the field so you can confirm you have the right person.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the dates">
    **Invoice Date \*** is required. **Due Date** is what makes an unpaid invoice tip into **Overdue** later — without one, nothing chases itself.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add the lines">
    Search "Search services to add..." to pull items from your [service catalogue](/hospital/revenue/services). **Qty**, **Unit Price** and **Disc %** are all editable on the line, so a one-off concession does not mean repricing the underlying service. **Custom Item** adds a line that is not in the catalogue; its description is required.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the discount and tax">
    **Global Discount (%)** applies to the subtotal before tax. **Tax Rate (%)** arrives from **Settings → Billing** — change it here only for this invoice.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save it">
    Add anything the patient must read under **Notes (Optional)** and select the create button. You get **Invoice created successfully** and an **Invoice Created** dialog naming the invoice number, with **Download PDF**, **Send Invoice** and **Done**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  **A new invoice is created as Pending, and there is no status field while you are creating it.** **Status** appears only once the invoice exists and you open it to edit. So if you are assembling a bill over several days — a long admission, for instance — raise it, then edit it and set **Status** to **Draft**.
</Note>

## Send it

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the send dialog">
    **Send Invoice**, from the row's **Invoice Actions**, from the invoice itself, or from the **Invoice Created** dialog. It says: "A branded email with invoice \{number} attached as a PDF will be sent to the recipients you choose."
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose the recipients">
    **Send to** offers three options — the patient's email on file, **A different email**, or **Both — \{patient} and a different email**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add the other addresses">
    Choosing anything but the patient reveals **Other emails**, with the placeholder "[billing@employer.com](mailto:billing@employer.com), [family@example.com](mailto:family@example.com)" and the helper "Up to 3 addresses, separated by commas."
  </Step>

  <Step title="Send">
    Select **Send Invoice**. Each recipient gets the same PDF, and the invoice records that it was sent.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### A worked example — employer-billed care

An employer sends staff to your occupational health clinic and settles centrally. Set **Send to** to **Both**, enter `accounts@northgate.example, hr@northgate.example` in **Other emails**, and send: the employee keeps their copy and the accounts team gets the bill. The same pattern covers an insurer copied on a self-pay invoice.

<AuditNote action="Creating, sending or downloading an invoice" />

## Cancelling versus deleting

<Warning>
  **An invoice with a recorded payment cannot be deleted.** The menu item is disabled and reads **Has payments — cancel instead**, with the tooltip "Invoices with recorded payments can't be deleted"; the server refuses it too — "This invoice has recorded payments and cannot be deleted. Cancel it instead to keep the record." Deleting an unpaid invoice is permanent: "Invoice \{number} and all of its items and recorded payments will be permanently removed. This action cannot be undone."
</Warning>

Cancel is the right answer far more often than delete: it keeps the invoice on the record and the payment reconciled, so the history explains itself. Delete is for an invoice raised entirely by mistake, before anybody paid against it.

## Who can do this

**Role** decides whether **Billing** opens at all — an owner sets that per role under **Settings → Role Navigation**.

**Permission** decides what you may do with an invoice. The relevant toggles in your staff sheet, in the product's own words:

| Action                              | Who by default                     | Permission                                       |
| ----------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ |
| Create and edit an invoice          | Billers, front desk, managers      | **Create billing documents**                     |
| Record a payment on it              | Billers, front desk                | **Add client payments**                          |
| Change a service's price            | Owners and managers                | **Edit service fees**                            |
| See the money figures               | Owners, managers, executives       | **View financial dashboard**                     |
| Void a payment already taken        | Owners, managers, accountants only | Enforced on the server regardless of the toggles |
| Delete an invoice that has payments | Nobody                             | Refused on the server for everyone               |

Enforcement is **opt-in per person** — a colleague never saved in the permissions sheet is unrestricted, and the sheet warns **"Saving starts enforcing"**. A **denied action is recorded**; an allowed one is not.

## Check it worked

* The invoice appears under **Billing → Invoices** with a **Pending** badge and its number.
* After sending, you get **Invoice emailed to \{recipients}** and each address has the PDF.
* **Download PDF** produces a file that opens. A tiny file that will not open means the download failed, not that it succeeded.

## Common issues

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="I cannot find the Status field while creating">
    There is not one. New invoices are **Pending**. Save it, reopen it with **Edit Invoice**, and set **Status** to **Draft**.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The service I want is not in the picker">
    "Search services to add..." only finds your catalogue. Add it under [Services](/hospital/revenue/services), or use **Custom Item** for a one-off — its description is required.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The send dialog will not take more addresses">
    **Other emails** accepts three, separated by commas — "You can add up to 3 other email addresses." For wider distribution, download the PDF and forward it.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The patient says they never received it">
    Check the email on file, then re-send with **A different email**. Ask them to check spam: the message carries a PDF attachment, which some filters treat harshly.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Delete Invoice is greyed out">
    Money has been recorded against it. Cancel it instead; if the payment was itself the mistake, void it first — see [Record and collect payments](/hospital/revenue/payments).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The create button is disabled">
    An invoice needs at least one line. Add a service or a custom item.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## FAQ

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Do my bank details appear on the PDF?">
    Only if you added them under **Settings → Payment Details** and switched them on. Nothing else prints them — see [Payment details](/hospital/settings/payment-details).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What is the CPT/HCPCS column for?">
    The billing code for a line, carried onto insurance claims. It fills in from a service that has one.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I invoice an insurer instead of the patient?">
    Copy them with **Both**, or raise a claim — see [Insurance claims](/hospital/insurance/claims).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does a member get a different price?">
    Yes. A patient on a plan is badged in the picker and member pricing applies automatically — see [Memberships](/hospital/revenue/memberships).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I edit an invoice after sending it?">
    Yes, with **Edit Invoice**, until it is paid or cancelled. Re-send it so the recipient has the corrected copy.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<StillStuck topic="an invoice" />