Making charge capture easier so clinicians can focus on care

UC Davis Health has improved how clinical services are captured and billed without adding extra steps for clinicians. Through the Clinical Charging Project, documentation now reliably drives billing behind the scenes, reducing follow-up questions, rework, and manual fixes while helping teams focus on patient care.

Less Manual Work, Fewer Interruptions

Clinical documentation already demands attention and time. When billing processes rely on manual steps or downstream corrections, clinicians often feel the impact later—through follow-up questions, chart reviews, or unexpected rework.

The Clinical Charging Project was designed to reduce that friction.

By aligning documentation more closely with billing processes, many charges are now captured automatically based on what clinicians already document during care. The goal was simple: make the right thing happen by default, without asking clinicians to do more.

What Clinicians Experience Today

Across inpatient, ambulatory, and emergency settings, the changes are largely invisible—but meaningful.

• Fewer follow-up questions from billing and revenue teams
• Less manual tracking or selection of charges during busy shifts
• More confidence that documented care is being captured accurately
• Cleaner charts that don’t require later clarification

In areas like Labor and Delivery and the Emergency Department, clinicians no longer need to pause to manually identify certain charges. Instead, documentation entered during care now supports accurate billing automatically—saving time in high-acuity environments.

Why This Matters for Patient Care

When documentation and billing are better aligned, clinicians benefit in ways that go beyond efficiency.

• Time spent on rework or clarification is reduced
• Documentation reflects care more accurately
• Care teams are interrupted less often after the fact
• Clinical workflows remain focused on patients—not processes

These improvements also support safer care by reducing ambiguity and ensuring services are clearly represented across the system.

Behind the Scenes: Teams Working Together

This work reflects close collaboration between clinicians, IT, Finance, and operational teams—focused on understanding real clinical workflows before making changes.

“This project helped us move away from manual, error-prone processes and toward a more reliable system,” said Paul LePage, vice president, Patient Accounts Administration, Revenue Services. “Just as important, it strengthened collaboration across teams so improvements could support clinicians without adding burden.”

By designing solutions around how care is actually delivered, the project aimed to support—not disrupt—clinical practice.

What’s Next

The Clinical Charging Project is part of a broader effort to make systems work more seamlessly for clinicians. As enhancements continue, the focus will remain on:

• Minimizing documentation burden
• Reducing downstream interruptions
• Improving clarity across care teams
• Supporting accurate representation of clinical work

The result is a quieter, more reliable process in the background, so clinicians can spend more time where it matters most: with patients.