Creating insurance claims just got easier thanks to a new feature from Lightning Step - automatic charge merging. With this update, you can now automatically combine multiple charges into a single claim line item for select payors and services.

Let's walk through an example. Say a client has a 5-day residential stay from Monday to Friday. Normally, each day would generate an individual census charge that would need to be sent as separate line items on the insurance claim. But with certain payors, these consecutive charges for the same service, provider, and location can be merged into a single line item with a date range. This scenario is specific to some Medicaid Payors in certain states where you bill fees for services rendered rather than a single per diem charge for Residential.

In the past, users had to manually toggle on the "Merge Charges" option each time they wanted to combine eligible charges. With the new automatic merging capability, users can set this one time at the payor service level. Once enabled, the system will automatically look for charges that can be merged and consolidate them when creating claims for that payor and service type.

This new feature prevents the need to remember to merge charges claim-by-claim. It also reduces claim errors by ensuring charges are sent in the format required by payors who need services combined. At the same time, manual merging is still available if required on a claim-by-claim basis.

Automatic charge merging improves the claim creation process by:

Reducing manual effort for users
Preventing claim errors and rejections
Simplifying claims with fewer line items when allowed
Ensuring compliance with payor billing guidelines

Users can focus their time on more strategic initiatives as we continue optimizing and automating routine billing tasks. Contact us today to learn how automatic charge merging and other features can optimize your billing operations.