Edit Patient Info
There are several ways to access the "Edit Patient Information" Window:
- While in the Family Module, by double-clicking the Patient Information grid.
- While in the Chart Module, by double-clicking the Patient Info grid.
- When adding a new patient by clicking Add Pt in the Select Patient window.
- When adding a new family member in the Family Module by clicking Add.
Required Fields
Some fields, such as Birthdate, cannot be left blank by default. They're marked with an asterisk (*) in the Patient Information window. Known as Required Fields, these selections are managed by going to Setup in the main menu and selecting Required Fields. If one of these fields is left blank, the user receives a popup prompt to go back and complete the Required Fields.
Click OK to continue or Cancel to return to the Patient Information window and complete Required Fields, which will now be marked by a red exclamation point.
Edit Patient Information (Overview)
Appointment Scheduling is Restricted
If the "Appointment scheduling is restricted" box is checked:
- No new appointments for the patient can be scheduled.
- Existing and planned appointments for the patient cannot be sent to the pinboard.
- Appointments for the patient cannot be moved to another timeslot.
- Appointments cannot be scheduled for the patient from the Unscheduled List.
To have this information appear in the Patient Information grid, add Pat Restrictions to the Patient Information grid using Display Fields settings.
An automation can be set up to automatically check or uncheck this box depending on Billing Type selection.
A user must have "Patient Restriction Edit" Security permissions to edit the checkbox.
Patient Number
Patient numbers are automatically assigned by the system in sequential order. The field cannot be edited or changed.
Names
The patient's preferred name will be displayed before the First name in most areas of Practice-Web. The salutation is not displayed but can be used with Letter Merge.
Status
- Patient: Default setting.
- NonPatient: Typically used to add parents or guardians of children who serve as guarantors or insurance subscribers, but can be any individual who is not a patient.
- Inactive: Typically used to denote patients who have not visited the practice in some time and have not responded to reactivation efforts, but may still return. These patients will not appear in the Recall List, Treatment Finder, or Birthday List. They will receive statements if there is a balance, appear on A/R reports, and show in the Select Patient window.
- Archived: Used to denote previous patients who will not be returning, such as children who age out of a pediatric practice or a patient who moves away. Because these patients do not display in the Select Patient window, it's possible to create duplicate accounts. Note: If this selection is made, a user must have "Archived Patient Edit" Security permission to make edits.
- Deceased: Used to denote patients who have passed away. Account should be zeroed out if the practice does not intend to collect any balances from surviving family members. You will receive a prompt to remove future appointments if any are scheduled when marking a patient as deceased. Patients will not display in the Select Patient window.
- Prospective: Used to denote prospective patients who have not visited the practice, such as patients in the process of scheduling. If your practice has a dedicated operatory for new patients, you can create an automation that selects this patient type when scheduling by choosing Setup in the main menu, then Appointments, and then Operatories.
Patients who have been deleted will remain in the database but are hidden and have a status of "Deleted."
To mark several patients as active or inactive at once, the Patient Status Setter tool may be used.
Gender
Used to denote the biological sex of a patient. For HIPAA compliance, "Unknown" may be selected if the patient does not what their biological sex tracked or recorded.
Position
Used to denote the individual's marital status.
- Single
- Married
- Child
- Widowed
- Divorced
Family Relationships
Used to denote the individual's relationship to other individuals in the system, such as spouse, guardian, mother, or father.
Birthdate/ Age
The age automatically populates when the birthdate is entered. If a Birthdate is entered on the Select Patient window, it will automatically populate on the Edit Patient window.
Medicaid ID, State
Visibility for this field is determined by the Medicaid settings in Show Features. The number added in the first field will need to be manually added to the Insurance ID field too. The second field holds the state abbreviation.
Chart Number
If your practice previously assigned numbers to paper charts or used software that assigned chart numbers, the numeric identifier may be entered here for cross-referencing. Chart numbers only appear in the Family Module.
Ask to Arrive Early
This field generates a popup each time the patient is scheduled, reminding the user to ask the patient to arrive early. Values are entered in minutes. The value for the entire family will be updated if the value is changed when the "Same for entire family" box is checked. However, the setting will not be automatic for new patients being added to the family.
Employer
The Employer field is liked to the Employer List. Typing a few characters will automatically pull up related companies to select from. A new employer may also be added here and it will be added to the Employer List.
Email and Phone
Contact information specific to the patient are separate from the home phone and address, which are usually shared by families. However, you may check the "Same for entire family" checkbox and any updates will be carried over to other active family members.
The Wireless Carrier field was previously needed to ensure text messages were delivered properly. Carriers have since updated their technology and a carrier is not needed. However, practices must have Practice-Web's integrated texting service for texting functions to work throughout the software.
Multiple email addresses can be entered by clicking the ellipses button [...]. Subsequent email addresses should be separated by a comma.
Prefer Contact/ Confirm/ Recall Methods
This section is used to denote the patient's preferred communication method for different activities. In addition to being informational, it also impacts defaults and behaviors in other areas of the software, such as the Recall and Confirmation List, and can impact automated communication too.
Preferred communication methods can be logged for:
- Contact: This selection is informational and appears in bold in the Patient Information area of the Family Module. It's used to denote how your team should reach the patient for general communications, such as questions or billing-related communications.
- Confirm: This selection impacts automated confirmation notices and appears in the Contact column of the Confirmation List. It denotes the patient's preferred communication method when your office is confirming appointments.
- Recall: This selection impacts automated recall reminders and displays in the Contact column of the Recall List. It denotes the patient's preferred communication method when your office needs to remind patients of an upcoming recall appointment or a recall appointment that needs to be scheduled.
There are eight options in the dropdown menu for each communication situation.
- DoNotCall: The office should not contact the patient. "DoNotCall" will appear on Lists.
- HmPhone: The patient's home phone should be called.
- WkPhone: The patient's work phone should be called.
- Wireless: The patient's cell phone should be called. The word "Cell" appears before the patient's cellular number on Lists.
- Email: The patient should be reached via the listed email address(es).
- SeeNotes: The user should read the patient's notes. "SeeNotes" will display on Lists.
- Mail: Postal mail should be used to contact the patient.
- TextMessage: The patient prefers to be texted. The word "Text" appears before the patient's cellular number on Lists.
Language
The Language selector determines which language will be used in patient communications. Global options are configured by clicking Setup in the main menu, choosing Miscellaneous, and then clicking Edit Languages.
Referred From
Patients, other practices, and even places your practice advertises can be referral sources. Tracking makes it easier for your office to thank individuals who refer new patients and use your marketing budget/ resources more effectively.
Click the ellipses button [...] to select from a list of referral sources. A pop-up asking if the referral source is a patient will display.
Choose "Yes" to select the patient from your patient list. Choose "No" to choose a referral source from the Referrals List or add a new referral source.
Address and Phone
Address and phone information appears in the top right corner. It's usually the same for all family members, so the "Same for entire family" box is checked by default. Changes made to one family member in these fields will automatically be made to other family members because of this. However, the box may be unchecked to make changes for a single patient.
- Zip: City and state are automatically populated when a zip code is entered.
- Edit Zip: Clicking the "Edit Zip" button will allow the user to edit the master list of zip codes and associate zip codes with cities and states.
- Map: The "Map" button opens Google Maps in the browser and displays the address entered. To choose whether this button displays in the Edit Patient window, go to Family Module Preferences and select or unselect the "Show Google Maps in patient edit" box.
- Address and Phone Notes: Information entered in the Address and Phone Notes section will display in bold red in the Patient Information grid as well as on the Unscheduled and Recall Lists and appointment. Practices often use this field to denote if the information needs to be updated or to share additional contact information, such as an extension or alternate address.
Billing and Provider(s)
The Billing and Provider(s) section is usually managed at a family level, so "Same for the entire family" is usually checked and edits made to one family member are carried over to other family members. The box can be unchecked if an individual family member has information specific to him or her.
Credit Type
Some practices run credit reports as part of their in-house financing or assign scores based on a patient's payment history. The Credit Type field is used to track the rating your practice uses for internal use. The information added to this field displays in different areas of Practice-Web and can be added to an Appointment View with the "CreditType" selector.
Billing Type
Billing Type indicates how a patient is billed, such as if the patient is being sent to collections or wants statements emailed.
Billing Types are managed at a global level by going to Setup in the main menu, choosing Definitions, then choosing Billing Type.
The default setting for new patients is selected in Practice Setup, though Family Module Preferences also has a selector for "New patient primary insurance plan sets patient billing type," which automatically chooses a Billing Type when a patient's Insurance Plan is changed. Note that, even if this selection is made, patient billing types will not change if an existing Insurance Plan's Billing Type is changed.
Primary Provider/ Secondary Provider
The Primary Provider is typically the dentist and the Secondary Provider is usually the hygenist who sees the patient. The Primary Provider will default to the Primary Provider for the practice. The Primary Provider can only be changed if the user has "Patient Primary Provider Edit" Security permissions.
If using the Clinics feature with Providers restricted to Clinics, only the providers assigned to the Clinic will be listed as options.
Fee Schedule
Virtually all Fee Schedules are managed through the Insurance Plan settings and this field will usually be set to None. However, if your practice uses an alternate Fee Schedule for some patients, such as a reduced Fee Schedule for cash-paying patients or similar, it should be added here. Procedures will then be assigned the fee listed in this Fee Schedule for the patient.
Tabs
The tabs that display on the bottom right are determined by settings. Go to Setup in the main menu, Advanced Setup, and Show Features to manage. The following dialog will display.
The tab options are found in the Special Use Only section.
Hospitals Tab
Professionals who practice in a hospital setting can track admission dates and locations. See "Tabs" section above to turn this tab on or off.
Other Tab
The "Other" tab hosts a variety of information that's sometimes helpful for insurance or billing,
- SS#: Holds the patient's Social Security Number. Dashes are added automatically.
- Date of First Visit: The patient's first visit is usually automatically recorded. It's based on the date the first appointment is scheduled and will automatically update when the first procedure is completed. If changes are made to it manually, it will not be updated automatically.
- Student Status: Sometimes insurance plans will cover dependents for a longer period of time than non-students. If the patient is a student, the status can be marked here.
- College Name: If coverage is extended for students, a college name is typically required before claims will be paid.
Emergency Contact
Enter the patient's emergency contact here. It will display as "ICE Name" and "ICE Phone" in the Patient Information grid.
Public Health
Public health professionals can track additional demographic data. See "Tabs" section above to turn this tab on or off.
EHR Misc
Generally used by public health professionals for Syndromic Surveillance, the EHR Misc tab can be turned on or off. See "Tabs" section above for more info. Note: If a Date Time Deceased is entered, the patient's age will lock.
Super Families
Sometimes groups of people live together and/or share the same information even though they're not related. For example, children who live in a group home or elderly patients who live in a nursing home. Practice-Web offers the ability to group these patients together as Super Families. This can be turned on the same way tabs can be in Show Features. When turned on, the Edit Patient screen will also show a "Same for entire super family" checkbox in places where a "same for entire family" checkbox appears. It works the same, but the patients who receive automatic edits will be those who are part of the super family.
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