Home Forums Discussions Feedback and Recommendations Required Fields for Demographics New Patient Input

This is a very common,very basic feature in most emr/scheduling systems. Staff need to be essentially 'forced' to gather a certain amount of basic data in order to get to the point of scheduling. (Basic demos, ref prov., DOB, preferred pharmacy, insurance info, etc.).

If complete information is not collected on the front end, it can wreak havoc on the back end and cost you lots of money, time, and grief --let alone be ultimately demoralizing to staff if their performance comes into question. The system should support staff with accuracy and completeness.

Each practice/AC user should be able to decided uniquely what fields they want to be required for new patients.

There are required fields for demographics. They are first name, last name, DOB and sex. There are a variety of reasons the others are optional. I have looked at a number of other EMRs and some do require more but this is a common set of requirements.

Staff does not need to be forced. Staff needs to be trained. Loss of flexibility has other consequences.

That's not a bad idea, but I suspect is would require increasing the complexity of the program significantly. I do not know of another EMR in the 3-4 that I have significantly examined that has this capability. The more items you add to the program the more complex and more likely it will be buggy.

Have you sent these ideas to AC through the ideas help section? This site is not always monitored by Amazing Charts, it is primarily for users to help each other.

I hi Madilu. Welcome to Amazing Charts. I agree with Wendell that you have a good idea about being able to choose certain fields before the demographics will be saved.

I also agree with him about forced vs trained. Maybe that was just a word you picked.

The comments that I don't understand is we have been using AC for a number of years, and I don't see where it is costing us lots of time, grief and money. Maybe you are referring to second phone numbers and insurance demographics. But, that is similar to copying insurance cards and collecting copays. Staff are just trained to do it. And, yes, there performance is evaluated and bonuses and raises may be based on it.

I don't see where it would be demoralizing.

The put the word 'forced' in quotes -for lack of better word. Training, yes -absolutely. However, even the best trained staff may forget or skip one element or another when things get to buzzing around them -pts. on hold, pt. in front of them, it's easy to miss something if it's not a required field.

Think of it like when you register online for something -there are required fields, and optional fields. If you submit and have missed one field (for example confirming your email address or last 4 digits of SSN), then you get an error message. Each practice may have fields that they find to be more important than another practice.

When a critical piece of information is missed on the front end, it can tend to have a back-end effect that does indeed cost time, $, extra effort or clean up. It can even impact patient satisfaction. I am unsure as to how to better explain that.

@Bert-Demoralizing only in the sense that if any staff are struggling with remembering which fields that need to be completed and need continuing reminders, it can make them feel bad.

I would be curious to know what your staff are trained to gather up front as "required fields." (i.e. specifically which fields do you like to populate up front?
Thanks!

Madilu,
I understand your point about the need for complete demographic information. On the other hand, this must be balanced against the ability to quickly create a chart for scheduling or importing information. If a new patient calls or walks in, it may be more appropriate to enter the minimum amount of information so that they can be scheduled or have their (faxed or mailed) documents entered. That is why I (and my staff) like the ability to create a chart with only minimal information (as it stands now in AC).
The demos are much more likely to be accurate if they are fully entered later, when the staff has enough time and when the patient produces their information in writing (on their insurance card and the appropriate demographic form) rather than verbally.

I agree, Jon. When we first started using AC, we entered only the required 4 fields. We use our PM program for all the other info, and did not need any more. Once we got fully up to speed, we have gone back and entered all of the other info, including the insurance info to be ready for the AC PM module, assuming it is to our liking.

It would have been a tremendous burden if we had been required to enter all of this information at the outset.

Your idea is actually a good one. Anything that is an option or preference is good for all people. As far as skipping anything, I would fill out a dummy chart's demographics and make a screenshot of it and put it on everyone's desktop. Soon, they will remember. If not, they can refer back.

Can you try to explain it better? I just don't see it costs money. Our back end does it anyway.

To be honest, I wouldn't even know what they get. I delegate everything. My biller knows coding, my front staff know where to put what insurance, etc. None of them feel bad, because each have ways of devising a system such as making a Word document, etc.

Don't get me wrong, having a way to at least color code fields would be helpful. But, to force someone to fill in all of the insurance information to see a new patient would be difficult.

Madilu,

I, like Jon and Donna, enter in the 4 basic fields as well as the address so that I can eprescribe. I do this myself, so that I can keep a running tab of my charts. I create the demographic section when a patient that is not in the EHR comes in for an appointment, and usually a week or so before the appointment. As I backed up my AC tonight, noticed 907 patients, and I have about 1500 total to integrate into the EHR.
I also utilize Updox, and my wife has created a demographic form that each individual patient fills out at home and sends securely through the portal. On the patients initial visit, my nurse reminds them to fill this out, with all the necessary data, that is up to date and filed away under incoming correspondence with the heading Demographics. When my nurse has time she takes the information that the patient has filled out and in AC and translates to the demographic section. This seems a bit redundant, but whenever we send a patient referral from AC, included with a letter and most recent note is the most current demographic data--after tagging the files on updox, this information can be sent to the necessary provider.
For those patients not interested in a portal, the information is scanned in from an intake sheet that is completed in the waiting room, but often times hard to read, and subsequently the demographic section is filled by my nurse. I figure she is no longer chasing after charts or faxing or calling in scripts, so I better keep her busy, and if she complains about filling out demographic data, I gently remind her that I am filling the demographic section out as well, so if I can do it she can do it.

Can I upload my patient demographics from an excell spreadsheet? If yes, what do I need to know about formatting that spreadsheet?
So far, I have installed AC and I'm reading like mad to get started.

Thanks for any help, I'm looking forward to getting started.

You can import an Excel sheet into a patient's chart just as it is. You can't have the fields auto-populate the demographics in AC.

Welcome to AC and the board, Limago.

Yes, Limago....welcome.

Perhaps what you want to do is take your current patients and put them in AC? Yes, you can do that with an Excel file. You can work on it yourself, or you can ping AC support and explain what you want to do. I remember we did this (before we even purchased AC!) and they were kind enough to take our spreadsheet exported from Medical Mastermind (I think about 15k patients, over 15 years) and modify the file and import it into AC for us. We decided not to bring over all of the old insurance information (we wanted to be sure it was all updated and current) but it is big help to have the basics in there on all of your patients from day 1.

As Bert says, you can import individual spreadsheets into Imported Items, but I am not sure if that is what you are asking.

Wow, learn something new everyday. So, now I have learned one thing. Thanks Jon for bailing me out.

Online support took my file and in a matter of minutes, all patients were uploaded. Nice feature, I'll be tapping into that one again.

Thanks,all.

Linda
Psychiatry
New Bedford, MA

Correct me if I am wrong, Jon, but I thought that you could only do that once at the outset? I think because it overwrites what is already in the database?

Yes, Linda. You should be aware of what Donna is saying. After your initial import of patients via a csv file, it may not be possible to add more. At least, that is what AC support told me; I have always thought that it might be possible with a little work and knowledge of databases.

You can import from excel as often as you wish, just not the same patients. When we add a patient in our PM we export periodically to xls file and import the new patients.

Pretty much with SQL Server Management Studio and someone with proficiency with SQL, you can do anything.

I am sure with those you could discover the origins of the universe and a cure for cancer.
I was thinking more along the lines of a fairly simple understanding of Excel. Sounds like Roger has got that.