Claim submitted
Capture the patient account, service date, amount and scheme submission reference.
Financial management designed for healthcare practices
A medical practice may deliver excellent clinical care while still experiencing poor cash flow because claims are rejected, patient balances are not followed up, remittances are allocated incorrectly or practitioner costs are not measured. Orion Moon helps doctors, specialists, allied-health professionals and healthcare practices connect billing information to accounting, payroll, tax and management reporting.
Our work focuses on the financial and employment side of the practice. Clinical decisions, coding, professional registration and patient care remain with the practitioner and appropriately qualified healthcare or billing specialists.
Medical-aid claims and debtor control
Revenue should be tracked from the original account through submission, remittance, rejection, resubmission and final payment. A bank deposit alone does not show which patient, claim or treatment generated the receipt.
Reconcile practice-management billing totals to the accounting system.
Allocate medical-aid and patient payments to the correct accounts.
Separate submitted, accepted, rejected, short-paid and unpaid claims.
Maintain age analysis by medical scheme, patient and responsible person.
Identify stale claims, recurring rejection reasons and balances requiring follow-up.
Record credit notes, reversals, refunds and bad debts with supporting approval.
Medical-aid remittance reconciliation
Remittance received
Match the scheme statement to approved, rejected and patient-liable amounts.
Payment allocated
Reconcile the remittance to the bank receipt and individual patient accounts.
Difference followed up
Investigate short payments, exclusions, coding queries and duplicate or missing claims.
Private patients and payment plans
Private billing requires clear quotations, invoices, receipts, refund controls and follow-up. We can help maintain patient-debtor schedules and reconcile card machines, payment links, EFTs and cash receipts to daily or monthly billing reports.
Separate deposits and advance payments from earned consultation income.
Reconcile card settlements after merchant fees and timing differences.
Record approved payment arrangements and monitor overdue instalments.
Maintain a documented process for refunds, discounts and write-offs.
Practice expenses and supplier management
Medical practices often incur recurring costs across rooms, staff, consumables, laboratories, equipment, software and professional memberships. We classify and review these costs so the practitioner can see where revenue is being used.
Rooms, utilities, cleaning, security and shared-practice expenses.
Clinical consumables, laboratory charges and outsourced services.
Practice-management software, billing services and IT support.
Professional indemnity, licences, registrations and training.
Equipment finance, maintenance, calibration and service contracts.
Staff, locum, contractor and practitioner-related payments.
Practitioner, locum and contractor payments
The nature of each working relationship should be documented before payments are processed. Calling someone a contractor does not by itself determine the payroll or tax treatment.
Written agreement and agreed basis of payment.
Session, hour, percentage or fee-sharing calculation.
Supporting schedule for services rendered.
Assessment of whether payroll withholding or supplier treatment is appropriate.
Separate recording of owner drawings, salary, loan-account movements and profit distributions.
Payroll and HR for medical practices
Receptionists, nurses, assistants, cleaners, administrators and practice managers may work different hours and carry different responsibilities. A reliable monthly process links approved attendance and employee changes to payroll.
Employee contracts, job descriptions and confidentiality obligations.
Salaries, hourly wages, overtime, allowances and authorised deductions.
Leave, absenteeism, shift and public-holiday records.
PAYE, UIF and SDL calculations and EMP201 declarations.
EMP501 reconciliations and IRP5/IT3(a) certificates.
Probation, performance, discipline and termination documentation.
VAT and mixed practice income
VAT treatment depends on the practitioner, service and supply. A practice may receive clinical fees, product sales, room rental, administration charges or other income with different VAT consequences. Registration and input-tax recovery should therefore be assessed using the actual activities rather than assuming that every medical-related amount is treated the same.
Classify each revenue stream before assessing VAT registration.
Review invoices and agreements for taxable, exempt or other treatment.
Determine whether expenses relate to taxable, exempt or mixed activities.
Reconcile VAT returns to billing, accounting and valid supplier tax invoices.
Obtain transaction-specific tax advice where the treatment is uncertain.
Income tax and provisional tax
We prepare tax information using reconciled practice records rather than estimates based only on the bank account.
Individual or company income-tax returns based on the practice structure.
First and second provisional-tax estimates using current results and forecasts.
Asset and capital-allowance schedules for medical equipment and technology.
Review of private, capital and non-deductible expenditure.
Reconciliation of PAYE, provisional tax and other credits to the final assessment.
Medical equipment and finance
High-value equipment must be recorded separately from repairs and consumables. We maintain an asset schedule showing purchase cost, finance, location, depreciation, tax information and disposal.
Purchase agreement, invoice and commissioning date.
Deposit, financed amount, instalments and outstanding liability.
Maintenance plans, insurance and software licences.
Sale, trade-in, write-off or scrapping documents.
POPIA and confidential financial records
Health information is special personal information under POPIA. Accounting and payroll processes should receive only the patient or employee information needed for the authorised purpose and should protect it through access control, secure transfer and retention procedures.
Limit exported billing data to fields required for reconciliation.
Use secure methods for payroll, banking and patient-debtor information.
Control access by role and remove access when staff leave.
Document operators or service providers who process personal information.
Keep financial support without unnecessarily duplicating clinical records.
Monthly medical-practice management report
Consultation and other revenue by practitioner or service category where available.
Medical-aid and private debtor age analysis.
Claims submitted, rejected, resubmitted and collected.
Payroll, locum, consumable and occupancy costs.
Operating profit, cash movement and tax provisions.
Equipment finance, supplier balances and upcoming commitments.
Key ratios such as collection rate, debtor days and staff cost percentage.
How Orion Moon supports medical practices
We can begin by reviewing the billing-to-bank process, accounting records, payroll, tax registrations and monthly reporting. The agreed service may include bookkeeping, bank and remittance reconciliations, debtor reporting, payroll, provisional tax, annual tax, VAT review and management accounts.
Frequently asked questions
Does Orion Moon submit medical-aid claims?
Our core role is accounting, payroll and tax. We can reconcile billing and remittance information and work with the practice’s billing administrator, but clinical coding and claim submission remain with appropriately trained personnel unless separately agreed.
Can practice-management software replace bookkeeping?
No. It records clinical billing and patient accounts, while bookkeeping reconciles bank, expenses, payroll, assets, tax and the overall financial position.
Why do medical-aid receipts not match invoices?
Differences may arise from scheme rates, co-payments, rejected codes, reversals, short payments, timing or amounts transferred to patient liability. Remittance-level reconciliation is required.
Can Orion Moon see patient diagnoses?
Financial reconciliation should use the minimum information necessary. Clinical details should not be shared unless genuinely required, authorised and protected under applicable privacy obligations.
Healthcare billing, VAT and professional rules vary by practitioner and service. This page provides general financial guidance and does not replace clinical, coding, legal or professional-regulatory advice.