Lupa splits insurance claim creation into a five-step wizard where you fill in policy, pet, condition, clinician, and attachment details.

💡 In short: Start a claim from an invoice, client, pet, or the Insurance app. Fill the small Insurance Claim dialog to pick the pet, clinician, and insurance provider. Then work through the five-step wizard — Policy Details, Pet Details, Condition, Clinician Details, Attachments — saving as you go. The claim stays in Draft until every required step is complete.

Why Preparing Claims Properly Matters

⚠️ Prepare fully before submitting, don't submit a half-filled draft. The wizard lets you save and come back, but submitting a claim with missing condition codes, wrong policy details, or incomplete clinician information leads to insurer queries, delays, and rejections.

Benefit	How it helps the practice
Auditable record	Every step the wizard saves, including who filled which field and when, becomes part of the claim's history — useful for disputes and reviews.
Resume any time	The wizard autosaves each step. You can stop, hand over to a colleague, or come back tomorrow without losing work.

Step 1: Create the Claim

You can open the new claim option from three places. See for the full table of entry points; the most common is opening a completed invoice and clicking the Add Claim button. In the dialog, fill in:

Field	What to enter
Claim name	Auto-filled as `Pet • Client • Invoice` so you can find the claim later. Edit if you want a more descriptive name (max 100 characters).
Responsible clinician	The vet who provided treatment. Only employees with vet, vet nurse, or equivalent roles appear in the dropdown. Pre-filled when you start from an invoice.
Insurance Provider	Select Vetsure, a VetEnvoy insurer (e.g. Agria, Petplan), or Other for any insurer not connected to Lupa. The provider you pick controls how the claim is submitted later.
Vetsure policy number	Only appears if you picked Vetsure. Type the policy number to search Vetsure's database directly — see .

Click Create. Lupa generates a Draft claim, links it to the invoice (if you started from one), and immediately opens the preparation wizard.

Step 2: Prepare the Claim — the Five-Step Wizard

The Insurance Claim wizard is what fills out the actual claim form the insurer will see. It has five steps in a fixed order:

Step	What you fill in	Required?
Policy Details	Policy number, policyholder, address, contact preference, who gets paid	Yes
Pet Details	Pet's name, species, breed, sex, DOB, microchip, vaccination date	Yes
Condition	Diagnosis, condition code, treatment dates, linked invoice items	Yes
Clinician Details	Treating vet, practice contact details, claim handler contact	Yes
Attachments	Supporting documents — clinical notes, lab reports, signed forms	Optional

How the wizard behaves

**The wizard auto populates as much data as it can find for the Pet, client and condition details. Some steps may not need an attention is all details are already filled but it is always worth reviewing. **
Each step autosaves. When you click Save & Next or jump to another step, the data is written to the claim. You can close the dialog and come back tomorrow.
Steps validate independently. A green tick means the step has every required field filled and stored. An orange warning means something's missing.
You can navigate freely backward, but moving forward is gated by validation — the wizard blocks Save & Next if a required field is empty and shows the message "Please complete the current step before proceeding."
The Submit Claim button stays disabled until all four required steps (Policy, Pet, Condition, Clinician) show a green tick. Attachments don't block submission.

🔒 Status gate: The wizard is editable while the claim is in Draft or Initiated. Once a claim is Submitted, Settled, Declined, or Nullified, the form becomes read-only. Editing a submitted claim requires the Update Submitted Claims permission.

Filling Step 1: Policy Details

The Policy Details step captures the insurance policy and where the payout goes.

Field	What to enter
Policy Number *	The insurance policy reference. For Vetsure, this is auto-filled from the policy search.
Policyholder Name *	The person named on the policy — may be different from the registered client (a partner, parent, or business). Pre-fills from the client record but verify.
Policy Holder Address *	The address registered with the insurer. Uses Lupa's address autocomplete — pre-fills from the client record.
Mobile Phone	Policyholder's mobile, in international format. Pre-fills from the client record.
Email *	Policyholder's email. Used by integrated insurers (e.g. Vetsure) to send the e-signature request, so it must be the policyholder's own address.
Preferred Contact Method *	How the insurer should contact the policyholder — typically Email.
Pay Vet toggle	On if the insurer pays your practice directly (direct claim). Off if the insurer reimburses the client.
Pay Claim To *	Name of the recipient — your practice for direct claims, the policyholder otherwise.

💡 Vetsure claims: When you pick a policy via the Vetsure search (see the guide), the policy number, policyholder name, address, and contact details are filled in automatically. Lupa also fetches the policy period and validates the policy is Live (or Cancelled during a renewal transition) before you can submit.

Filling Step 2: Pet Details

Pet Details is the patient information the insurer needs to confirm coverage applies to the right animal. Most fields pre-populate from the pet's profile, so this step is largely a check — verify everything is current.

Field	What to check
Pet Name *	Pre-filled. Make sure it matches the policy — if the pet is registered with the insurer under a different name, update accordingly.
Species *	Pre-filled. The list of valid sex options updates based on what's selected.
Breed *	Pre-filled from the pet record.
Date of Birth *	Pre-filled. Critical for age-based coverage rules — fix on the pet record if wrong.
Sex *	Pre-filled. Options change based on species.
Colour	Pet's coat colour or markings.
Microchip Number	Strongly recommended even when not technically required — most insurers cross-reference it.
Registration Date	The date the pet was registered at your practice.
Last Vaccination Date	Auto-filled from the most recent vaccination on the pet's record. Useful for insurers that exclude conditions linked to lapsed vaccination.
Is pet deceased?	Toggle on for end-of-life claims.

💡 Edits flow back to the pet record. Updating Pet Details inside the wizard updates the pet's profile too — there's only one source of truth in Lupa.

Filling Step 3: Condition

Condition is where you describe the medical reason for the claim and link the invoice line items that make up the financial total. At a high level, this step captures:

Diagnosis — selected from a list or typed in
Condition Code — the standard insurer code for the condition (VENOM codes for most UK insurers, Vetsure's own code list for Vetsure)
Condition Started On — the first date the pet was seen for this condition
Claim Treatment Date From / To — the dates of treatment included in this claim
Claim Continuation — toggle on for ongoing treatment of a pre-existing condition
Death or Euthanasia — toggle on if the claim relates to end-of-life
Invoice Items — at least one is required; this is where the claim's financial total comes from Linking invoice items is the substantive part of this step and has its own dedicated guide. See for the full walk-through of searching, selecting, and reviewing line items.

⚠️ At least one invoice item is required. The Condition step won't tick green and the claim won't submit until you've linked at least one item via Add Invoice.

Filling Step 4: Clinician Details

Clinician Details has two sub-sections: the vet who provided treatment and the practice contact for the insurer to chase if they have questions.

Field	What to enter
Clinician First Name *	The treating vet's first name. Pre-filled from the responsible clinician.
Clinician Last Name *	Treating vet's last name. Pre-filled.
Position *	Job title — Veterinary Surgeon, Veterinary Nurse, etc. Pre-filled from the employee record.
Practice Name *	Your clinic's name. Pre-filled from the store settings.
Practice Phone	Main practice number for the insurer to contact you on.
Practice Address	Pre-filled from store settings.
Claim Handler Name	The person at your practice who handles insurance queries — often a receptionist or practice manager.
Claim Handler Email / Phone	Where the insurer should send queries about this claim.
Preferred Contact Method	How the claim handler wants to be contacted.
Certification *	Vetsure only. The "I certify this statement is true and accurate" checkbox must be ticked before submission.

💡 Use a shared inbox for the claim handler email. If only one person is named, claims stall when they're on holiday. A team alias keeps insurer correspondence flowing.

Step 5: Attachments (Optional)

Attachments are supporting documents — clinical notes, lab results, imaging reports, signed consent forms. They're optional in the wizard, but most insurers expect supporting evidence for anything beyond a routine claim. The Attachments step has its own dedicated walk-through covering supported file types, file size limits, the Pet Timeline auto-attachment, and how attachments are uploaded to the insurer. See .

📍 You don't have to attach anything to save the claim as Draft — Attachments doesn't block the Submit Claim button. But for Vetsure claims, Lupa auto-generates a Claim Details PDF at submission time, so the insurer always receives a complete summary.

Where to Find Your Draft Claims

All claims you've created — at every status — sit in the Insurance app. Go to Apps → Insurance to find the list, filter by Draft in the Status column, and click any row to resume preparation. Equally you can find claims on the client record as well under the 'Claims' section. The full reference for navigating, filtering, and exporting the claims list is in .

Tips

✅ Best practices from practices that run Lupa:

Start the claim from the invoice when you can — the invoice link is set automatically and you save typing the claim name. You can always add additional invoices to the claim.
Verify the pet record before starting — date of birth, microchip number, and last vaccination date are pulled from there. Fixing them inside the wizard fixes them for everyone, but it's faster to clean the pet record once than every claim
Use a team email for the claim handler — insurer queries land somewhere visible even if the named person is off
Save and walk away if a step is incomplete — autosave keeps everything you've entered, and a fresh look usually catches what's missing
For Vetsure claims, search the policy first — auto-filled policy details are far less error-prone than manual entry
Don't skip Pet Details just because it pre-fills — wrong DOB or species is one of the most common reasons claims bounce

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
Save & Next is greyed out	A required field on the current step is empty or invalid. Scroll the step looking for red error messages — Policy Number, Email, or Date fields are the usual culprits.
"Please complete the current step before proceeding"	You tried to jump to a later step but the current one isn't valid. Either fix the highlighted fields or click Back to a step you've already completed.
Insurance Provider dropdown is empty or missing options	VetEnvoy or Vetsure may not be enabled for your store. Ask your Practice Manager to check Settings → Integrations. Other is always available as a fallback.
"VetSure policy number is required for VetSure"	You picked Vetsure but didn't search for and select a policy. Type the policy number, click Search Policy, and pick the right result.
Pet's date of birth or microchip is wrong in the wizard	Edit it in the wizard — the change saves to the pet record. Or fix the pet's profile first, then come back to the claim.
Submit Claim button stays disabled even with all green ticks	For Vetsure claims, the policy must be Live (or Cancelled during a renewal transition) and assigned to a Vetsure insurance group. The wizard shows a specific reason if either check fails.
Wizard fields are read-only	The claim has been submitted, settled, declined, or nullified. Editing requires the Update Submitted Claims permission — ask your Practice Manager.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to fill in all five steps in one sitting?

No. Each step autosaves as soon as you click Save & Next or move to a different step. You can close the dialog at any time and resume from the Insurance app. The claim stays in Draft until you submit it.

Why are some fields pre-filled and others empty?

Lupa pulls policy holder details from the client record, pet details from the pet record, vet details from the responsible clinician, and practice details from the store. Fields that aren't on those records — like Policy Number for non-Vetsure claims — must be entered manually.

What's the difference between "Pay Vet" and "Pay Claim To"?

Pay Vet is a yes/no toggle: is this a direct claim where the insurer pays the practice, or an indirect claim where the insurer reimburses the client? Pay Claim To is the actual name of the recipient — your practice for direct claims, the policyholder for indirect.

Can two team members work on the same claim?

One person at a time. The wizard saves on every step transition, so if a colleague opens the same claim and saves their step, your unsaved changes on a different step won't conflict — but two people editing the same step simultaneously can overwrite each other.

How do I cancel a claim I started by mistake?

Open the claim and click Cancel Claim. This nullifies the draft so it doesn't appear in the active claims list. Cancelled claims still exist (so the audit trail is preserved) but are hidden from the default view.

Does creating a claim affect the linked invoice?

No — the invoice continues to behave normally. Creating a claim just records the link between the two so you can later add specific invoice line items in the Condition step. The invoice items remain editable until they're linked into a submitted claim.

Creating and preparing claims