Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Rx refill and labcorp ?

Well I have now been up and running for almost a month. So now I have more questions on what works best. First how do you handle phone messages and refills? Addendum or a note? Second ? we will be using Elabs with Labcorp as soon as they finish figuring out some of the details. I am not sure what the problem is, my IT guy is going to talk to them to find out what the problem is. But what I am wondering is where do the labs go when you are linked? Thanks much! I know they seem silly questions but so far those are the only things I am confused on.

Hi Alexis,
Congrats! I have been solo for over 2 years now and also started with AC. We use the message system for phone calls and refills. It helps if you can train people early on to put a subject in the message field labeled subject. It automatically puts the pt name but if you ever need to look back to see when that med was changed or when they called about that problem, you will searching thru a ton of messages if they aren't labeled well in the subject heading.

I don't use addendum much, mostly just if I documented something on the wrong date or made some other error that I can't go back and correct.

We are now using a lab interface with our local lab. So far so good over the past month. I usually "import" the labs to the main computer 1-2x/day(from the main screen while on the main computer). I get a message in my inbox that there is a lab for pt john doe and if you double click it, it opens the lab screen. You can also access their labs from the imported items section. My only c/o is that while looking at a lab result, you can't simultaneously open an imported item(like their previous labs that we had scanned in before the interface). So comparing old and new labs takes a while, but should be much simpler once we build up the database.

Does that help?

Highlight the patient and attach the chart to the message Subject field. Then you can simply save the message (or message thread) to the chart.

Exactly. But if you don't add anything else to the subject line besides what is added when you attach the patient name, it is a lot harder to search old messages for the info you want. You end up opening each message to read the content to see if that was the message you wanted. If you look at the past encounters tab, you will see the column for subject. In the message subject line, the standard info will look like: (patient:J.Doe)

If you don't add something to the subject line, like "refill" or "questions about referral", you end up with this long list of messages with identical subjects. Just one of those things you don't think about until you need to figure when someone called about something in particular or some other important info.

I am still learning new or better ways to do things with AC even after over 2 years of use. The user board is an excellent resource, but sometimes you just stumble upon these things. It was just a few weeks ago when I realized there was a built in way to block appt slots on the schedule. Up until then we were putting in a fake/practice pt into the slot to fill it up, and then deleting it later so as not to skew our patient numbers. With AC, it seems there are "many ways to skin the cat" and no doubt you will develop your own style of use with AC. I find it fascinating how many ways people have adapted/modified AC for their use, like Bert's file program and various peoples templates and med database changes. A really cool community to be part of!

Thanks much! Yes it does help. This has been daunting to say the least as I am a solo FNP (well my husband is my supervising and thankfully is able to consult easily). Starting with AC has been the best way I can imagine doing this. Thanks again and yes I am amazed at all everyone does to adapt and this board has been a lifesaver. I can tell you my husband who has to co-sign all charts for the first 6 months is VERY jealous! He is totally paper and sees avg 30 a day.