Price tracking
Know the price of every charge, on every date.
Every charge in Vellum carries a complete, effective-dated price history by facility and unit of measure: what it costs today, what it cost on any past date, and what it will cost after each scheduled increase.
Price history
One dated record for every price.
Price, effective begin and end, change and approver for every charge, with the next scheduled increase in view.
Price per charge, facility and unit
Every charge carries its price by facility and unit of measure, with corporate prices and facility overrides kept distinct.
Begin and end effective dates
Each price has an effective begin and end date. Overlapping dates are blocked and gaps are caught before approval.
Price as of any date
See what a charge costs today, what it cost on any past date, and what your records showed at the time, for audits.
Every price change is evidence
Each row links to its request, its approvals and the hash-chained audit trail. Export price history as CSV.
Scheduled increases
Plan increases ahead. Nothing changes until final approval.
From request through finance approval to publishing in your billing system, every step of a price change is governed and recorded.
Scheduled increases with approval
Schedule increases ahead of time. Nothing changes until final approval, and a new price can be slotted between scheduled ones or withdrawn without disturbing the others.
Annual campaigns with locked preview
Run your annual update as one campaign across revenue codes and facilities. The scope, rounding and projected gross-charge impact are locked in a preview before approval, and facility overrides are kept and listed.
Approval limits
Extra approval steps apply above the percentage or dollar limits you set. Backdated corrections need elevated approval and an impact report.
Versioned codes
CPT/HCPCS and revenue-code changes are versioned with effective dates, so a charge's history stays intact.
Publish with confirmation
Approved prices are published to your connected billing system, and Vellum tracks acceptance and reconciliation for each facility. A price counts as live once the billing system has accepted it.
Gross-charge export
Export approved gross charges by effective date as the gross-charge component of your CMS machine-readable file.
Publish, acceptance and reconciliation statuses apply where a billing system is connected.
Facility price comparison
See every facility's price side by side, and the outliers.
Pick any charge and see its price at every facility, whether each is corporate or a local override, and the spread between the highest and lowest.
How variance flags work
- Threshold you control
- Default ±15% from the median (or the corporate price, if you choose), set per department or revenue code by your finance or revenue integrity admins. Changes are audited.
- Warn or block
- Flags warn and require review at request and approval, or can block approval above a limit you set.
- Dismissal with a reason
- Authorized reviewers dismiss flags with an audited reason, one at a time or in bulk. Known overrides can be standing exceptions with an expiry.
- Like for like
- Units of measure are compared separately, with gross-charge dollar impact per outlier.
How the numbers add up
CT head without contrast, unit each, compared across three facilities as of today.
Median price
$1,842.00
Kestrel Bay Medical Center and Harbor Point Medical Center both charge the corporate price.
Facility override
$2,310.00
Kestrel Bay Community Hospital charges a local override.
Variance
+25.4%
($2,310.00 − $1,842.00) ÷ $1,842.00, above the ±15% threshold, so the price is flagged.
Impact per unit
+$468.00
Gross charge per unit above the median, shown with the flag so reviewers see the dollar effect.
The reviewer either aligns the facility to the corporate price through a governed request, or dismisses the flag with an audited reason, optionally as a standing exception with an expiry.
Capabilities described here, including price tracking, facility price comparison and variance flags, are delivered and configured for your health system, with scope set out in your SOW.
Walk through price tracking on your own chargemaster.
We'll cover price history, scheduled increases and facility comparison with your finance, revenue integrity and chargemaster teams.