Konnectors: Ancillary Konnectors

An Ancillary Konnector is a supplemental Konnector that can be added to a billable konnector. It can be set up in the Kipu EMR to send the ancillary services to a different location in the integrated billing system than the per-diem services. 

Ancillary konnectors are often used when both Behavioral and Medical Services are provided in the same EMR Location, however, the Per-diem (behavioral) and Ancillary (medical) services need different billing information on the claim like billing provider NPI.

Billable Konnectors

Ancillary Konnectors can be added to CollaborateMD (CMD), RCM, and Upload to File Server Konnectors that have been marked as Billable. See the linked articles for instructions on creating RCM, CMD, and Upload to File Server konnectors.

Marking a Konnector as Ancillary

Ancillary Konnectors are configured just like default Konnectors, the only difference is that the Ancillary checkbox is checked. Click here for information on how Konnectors can be modified.

Ancillary Konnectors can be tied to ancillary evaluation templates if there is an ancillary service that always needs to be rerouted to a different destination in CMD/RCM. Instructions for setting up an ancillary evaluation template can be found here.

Konnector Requirements

Ancillary Konnectors can be used in conjunction with a Default Konnector and Bill by Building/Program as long as they meet the following requirements.

Standard Konnector Requirements

• Each EMR Location can have at most one Default Konnector and multiple Ancillary Konnectors.
• The Default Konnector can be used to transmit Per-Diem and Ancillary Services. 
• An EMR Location cannot only have Ancillary Konnectors enabled (a single Default is required).
• Per-diem (Level of Care/UR-Required) services cannot be transmitted to the billing software using an Ancillary Konnector. 
• The Ancillary Konnector must point to the same Kipu RCM Practice or CMD Facility as the Default Konnector.

Used with Bill by Building or Bill by Program

• The EMR Location must have a single Default Konnector set up for each Location/Program or Location/Building combination. The same Location/Building or Location/Program combination cannot have more than one Default Konnector.
• Each EMR Location/Building or Location/Program combination can have multiple Ancillary Konnectors.
• The Default Konnector can be used to transmit Per-Diem and Ancillary Services. 
• Per-diem (Level of Care/UR-Required) services cannot be transmitted to the billing software using an Ancillary Konnector. 
• The Ancillary Konnectors must point to the same Kipu RCM Practice or CMD Facility as the Default Konnector for the Location/Building or Location/Program combination.

Expected Ancillary Konnector Behavior

When both a Default Konnector and Ancillary Konnector are set up for the location the patient is in, all services transmitted to the billing audit tool report (both Per-diem and Ancillary) will default to using the Default Konnector.

The Ancillary Konnector must always be chosen manually from the billing audit tool report for each service that should be sent to the Ancillary Konnector. 

Because ancillary konnectors do not default to billable items based on program/building mapping, the Building and Program options will be hidden when the Ancillary checkbox is selected.

When to Use Ancillary Konnectors vs. Bill by Program/Building

When the Ancillary Konnector needs to point to a different Kipu RCM Practice or CMD Facility than the Default Konnector, we recommend using Bill by Program or Bill by Building to prevent transmission errors. This selection allows you to bill different addresses and manage separate credentialing. 

Ancillary Konnectors can be layered in with a Bill by Program/Building setup if additional levels of billing granularity are needed on top of what Bill by Program/Building can provide on its own. 

Please note that you should not enable Bill by Building and Bill by Program for the same EMR location. We recommend choosing one setup per Location. However, if you have two EMR Locations and you want to enable Bill by Building in Location A and Bill by Program in Location B, that is an acceptable configuration. 

Click here to learn more about Bill by Program or Bill by Building.