
<p><strong>CareLite OPD software takes an outpatient from registration to a printed receipt on one screen: register or find the patient, pick the doctor, add the consultation and services, apply any discount, collect part cash and part card if needed, and print. A returning patient is found by UHID, name or mobile and keeps the same record.</strong></p>

<h2>The counter flow</h2>
<ol>
<li><strong>Find or register.</strong> Search by UHID, name or mobile. A new patient needs only a name and mobile number; a UHID is issued on save. If the same name and mobile already exist, the desk sees the earlier record before creating a duplicate.</li>
<li><strong>Start the visit.</strong> Choose department, consulting doctor and patient type. A corporate patient picks up the company tariff without the clerk having to know which one applies.</li>
<li><strong>Bill.</strong> Services are chosen from the tariff with the rate already filled in. A service that earns a doctor commission cannot be billed without a doctor against it, because the payout is calculated from that line.</li>
<li><strong>Discount, if any.</strong> Each user has a discount ceiling. Below it, a reason is enough; above it, an approver must be named and both are recorded on the bill and in the audit trail.</li>
<li><strong>Collect.</strong> One receipt can carry several payment modes — cash, card, UPI, cheque — and modes that need a transaction reference ask for one.</li>
<li><strong>Print.</strong> Bill and receipt carry the hospital header, and any reprint is marked DUPLICATE and logged.</li>
</ol>

<h2>Questions this answers for the hospital</h2>
<ul>
<li>How much did each doctor bill today, and how much of it was collected?</li>
<li>Which discounts were given, by whom, on whose approval, and why?</li>
<li>What did each counter collect in cash, and does it match the drawer?</li>
<li>Which OPD patients still owe money, and how old is it?</li>
</ul>

<h2>Fitting how an OPD actually runs</h2>
<p>The billing screen is built for a queue: dense rows, tabular figures, no navigation between adding a service and taking the money. Rates come from the tariff rather than the clerk's memory, and the tariff a bill used is stamped on it so a later rate revision does not rewrite last month's billing. A cancelled bill stays on the register with its reason instead of disappearing, because a bill that vanishes is exactly the one an auditor asks about.</p>
