How Medical Rep Expense Claims Work in RxRep

A claim passes through three people before the money reaches the rep: the rep who records it, the manager who checks it and HR who pays it. This post follows one claim through RxRep, so you can see what each person does and what to decide before you switch it on. If you have not written your rules yet, start with our one-page medical rep expense policy template and come back here.

The three claim types

RxRep groups claims into three types, and a rep chooses one when they start a claim.

Travel and trip expenses cover transport, lodging, meals, fuel, tolls, parking and communication. If a rep has several items from the same trip or event, they can group them under a trip. A trip is only a label for grouping, so it needs no approval of its own and a rep can submit a claim without one.

Doctor engagement covers a gift, sponsorship or entertainment spend tied to a specific doctor. It follows the same approval route as a travel claim, and it gives the company a record of what was spent on which doctor. Many companies have rules about this kind of spend, so check yours before deciding what reps may claim.

General or special requests cover anything else, such as a registration fee, supplies or another one-off cost.

What the rep fills in

The rep picks the claim type, then fills in the category, amount, date and description, and attaches a receipt photo if they have one. Whether a receipt is mandatory is up to your policy.

A claim can also be linked to a related field activity, such as a doctor call, a pharmacy call or an attendance entry. The link is optional, and it helps an approver see what the expense was for. For a travel claim on a visit day, linking it to that day's visits answers most of the manager's questions before they are asked.

Reps who work without signal can write a claim offline and send it when the phone reconnects. The same offline reporting covers their visits and their start of day.

What the manager does

Submitting a claim creates an approval request straight away. It goes to the first person above the rep in the reporting line who has permission to approve it. The approver can approve it as claimed, reduce the amount, or reject it. Reducing the amount is useful when part of a claim is outside the policy, because the rest does not have to be sent back.

Claims wait in the same pending list as the other requests in the approval workflow, so a manager clears visits, plans and claims in one place.

Decide in advance who approves what. If a rep's reporting line has nobody who can approve claims, the request approves itself, so check each chain before you rely on this step.

What happens after approval

An approved claim goes to HR to be marked as processed once it has been paid back. If the payroll module is switched on, the approved amount is added to that person's next payroll run, and nobody needs to mark it by hand. Pick one of those two routes and say which in your policy, so reps know when to expect the money.

What to set up first

Four decisions are enough to start. Which claim types you allow, and any limits per type. What proof you need for each. Who approves, and who covers when they are away. How reimbursement happens, through HR or through payroll. The policy template in our other guide has wording you can copy for each of these.

Where it fits

Tours and expense claims are part of the Complete plan, together with HR and payroll. The page on medical rep expense management shows the claim screens, and doctor visit tracking covers the visits that claims can be linked to.