Please note: The following feature is available as part of Birdie’s Starter, Core, Advanced and Plus packages (As well as Care Management, Rostering & Finance, Premium, Entry and Essentials) Please get in touch if interested in more information on this feature!
To ensure you are charging your payers for the care you are providing, you will need to create invoice rates. To do this, click on the Finance tab.
In the left-hand bar, you will see an Invoice rates tab. Click on this. Here, you will see any invoice rates you have previously created.
If you need to add a new invoice rate, click on the New Invoice Rate button.
You will then need to give the invoice rate card a name, for example, 'Hackney Council'. You can apply the same invoice rate to multiple payers and contracts.
You will be able to accommodate a variety of different rates, including single invoice rates, banded invoice rates, and service type rates, which are outlined in further detail below.
How to create an hourly invoice rate
The single rate can be used if you charge an hourly rate for your care. If you would like to create a single invoice rate, first click on Add rate.
Then select the Day type - you will see a drop-down menu, that allows you to select from:
Weekend - Select this if the rate is to apply on weekends (i.e. Saturday and Sunday)
Weekday - Select this if the rate is to apply on weekdays (i.e. Monday - Friday)
Custom - Select this if you want this rate to apply on specific days of the week (i.e. Monday, Wednesday, Friday).
Holiday - If you do not use multipliers for bank holidays, you can add a specific holiday rate to your pay and charge cards. Read more on holiday rates here.
Important: if you charge a specific, enhanced rate on bank holidays, add that rate FIRST before carrying on and adding rates for regular days like weekdays and weekends).
Select whether this rate applies Always (e.g. 24 hours of the day) or for a specific Time of day. You can then input the times this rate covers (e.g. 9 am-7 pm).
Add the rate you will charge for each hour of care delivered in the Hourly rate box below.
You can repeat the process to create as many rates as needed. You need to input the rate you will charge for each hour of care delivered, for each day of the week. Once you are happy with your invoice rate, press Save.
Time banded rates
You can create time-banded rates that will be associated with visit length (i.e. 15, 30, 45, 60 minutes and so on.)
As before, you will first select the Day type and then select when the rate Applies. On the Rate type option, select Banded on the drop-down menu.
You will then be able to create time bands by clicking on Add band. You will see this gives you the option to add a rate for visits of a certain length. You have the flexibility to insert whatever band of time necessary for your agency - be it 10, 15 minutes or other.
Please note: Rates are evaluated and applied from the top down, meaning the order you enter your banded rates is important. You should enter your rates from the lowest to the highest band. (i.e. 45-minute band should be entered before the 60-minute band).
Make sure that you are charging the correct rate for the visit times listed. The band descriptions are listed to the right of each time band you have added to help you with that. There is also an example of visit data below.
Again, you should aim to input the rate you will charge for each hour of care delivered, for each day of the week.
Banded rates for calls with a duration greater than your highest band
Your highest banded rate will apply for all visits lasting up to that time length, for example, if your highest band is 60 minutes, the highest banded rate will apply for all visits lasting up to 60 minutes.
This means in addition to adding your banded rates you will also need to add a single rate for each set of banded rates you have created.
Please note: If you use a mix of banded and hourly rates and they are set for the same time frame the order in which you input them will matter. The rates will be evaluated from the top down. Meaning if you have a banded rate and an hourly rate set to apply for the same timeframe, the one that is listed first will take priority in the system. See the example image below.
This means that if a Care Professional has a visit that exceeds the highest banded rate, the single rate will then apply to all visits longer than your highest time band on a pro-rated basis, ensuring they get paid fairly for their work.
Please note: If you do not have a single hourly rate set up, and a visit exceeds your highest banded rate, the system will charge nothing until you fix the rate card. We recommend you set a single default hourly rate when setting up your banded rates.
Once you are happy with the invoice rates, press Save.
Back in the Invoice rates tab, you will see all the different rates that you have created on the Birdie Platform.
Creating service-type invoice rates
If your agency provides care for different service types, you can create and charge different rates depending on the service type. The different service types available in Birdie include:
Read the article here for how to set up rates by service type.
How to archive an invoice rate card
To archive an invoice rate, start by looking for the necessary one using the search bar in the top right-hand corner.
Once you have found the necessary rate card, click on it. You have the option to Archive, Edit or view the Audit trail of changes made to the rate card.
If you want to archive the rate card, then click on the Archive rate card button.
You will see a warning modal, asking you to confirm this is the action. Click 'Ok' if you would like to proceed with archiving the rate card. This rate card will not be retrievable after it is archived so please double check you are archiving the correct rate card.
Important note: Make sure to update all the contracts that are funded by this rate so that you can make sure to invoice for your care.
Step-by-step guide
You may find the below, creating invoice rates flowchart helpful, click here to download the PDF!
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