^P01
BAR^P01 — Add Patient Account
BAR^P01 notifies the billing/financial system that a new patient account has been created for a visit. It carries the patient demographics, visit information, insurance details, and guarantor information needed to open a billing account.
When Is This Sent?
When a billing account is created for the patient visit — typically triggered when the patient is admitted (A01) or registered (A04) and the financial system needs to create a corresponding billing account.
Real-World Usage
BAR^P01 is the financial counterpart to ADT^A01/A04. While the ADT message updates clinical systems, BAR^P01 opens the billing account. In many modern EHR implementations, the billing system subscribes to A01/A04 ADT messages directly rather than receiving separate BAR messages. BAR^P01 is more common in interfaces with standalone billing systems or revenue cycle management platforms.
Message Structure
Segment names link to their field-level reference pages.
| # | Segment | Purpose in this message | Req | Repeat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MSH | Message header with BAR^P01 in MSH.9 | R | — |
| 2 | EVN | Event type with P01 trigger and account creation timestamp | R | — |
| 3 | PID | Patient demographics for billing — including date of birth and address | R | — |
| 4 | PV1 | Visit information — patient class, admission date, attending physician | R | — |
| 5 | DG1 | Admitting diagnosis for billing/coding | O | Yes |
| 6 | IN1 | Primary and secondary insurance coverage | O | Yes |
| 7 | GT1 | Guarantor/financially responsible party | O | Yes |
| 8 | FT1 | Initial financial transaction details | O | Yes |
Example Message
Realistic example with fake patient data. Paste into the HL7 Message Viewer to explore interactively.
1MSH||^~\&|EPIC|HOSPITAL_A|BILLING_SYSTEM|HOSPITAL_A|20260310143205||BAR^P01^BAR_P01|BAR00001|P|2.5.1 2EVN||P01|20260310143205 3PID||1||123456^^^HOSP_A^MR||Smith^John^M^^Mr.||19850315|M|||123 Main St^^Springfield^IL^62701^US^H||2175551234^PRN^PH 4PV1||1|I|4A^201^1^^^HOSP_A||||1234^Ahmed^Dr.^Khalid|||MED||||ADM|||5678^Wilson^Dr.^Sarah|IP||||||||||||||||||||||||||20260310143000 5IN1||1|BCBS001^Blue Cross Blue Shield^HL70072|BCBS-IL||||||GROUP20001|Smith^John^M|SEL|||20260101|20261231|||||||||||||||||A
Troubleshooting Scenarios
Billing account not created after patient admission
Cause
BAR^P01 is not being sent to the billing system. The interface engine may only be routing ADT messages and has no BAR channel configured.
Fix
Verify whether the billing system is configured to receive BAR^P01 or ADT^A01. If the billing system can use ADT, route A01 messages to it. If it requires BAR^P01, configure a separate BAR channel in the interface engine with the correct sending/receiving application names.
Insurance information missing from billing account
Cause
IN1 segment is not populated in the BAR^P01 sent to the billing system. The sending system may only include IN1 when insurance is verified, not at initial account creation.
Fix
Confirm whether IN1 is sent in the initial BAR^P01 or in a subsequent BAR^P05 (update). If IN1 arrives later, configure the billing system to handle BAR^P05 updates to the account.
Common Confusions
BAR^P01 (Add account) vs ADT^A01 (Admit patient). Both carry similar patient and visit data, but serve different system audiences. ADT^A01 goes to clinical systems (PACS, pharmacy, lab). BAR^P01 goes to financial/billing systems. In integrated EHR environments, the billing module may receive ADT messages directly instead of BAR messages — check your implementation. Also: BAR^P01 vs DFT^P03 — P01 opens the account; DFT^P03 posts individual charges to the open account.
Related Message Types
Segment Reference
Paste this message into our viewer
Interactive HL7 parser. Decodes every field, validates structure, highlights errors. Free, no signup.
Open HL7 Message Viewer →Need mapping templates?
The HL7 Integration Toolkit includes field mapping worksheets and interface spec templates for every major HL7 message type including BAR^P01.
View HL7 Integration Toolkit →