OP 21.1.6 Release | Availability: Per email communication
This release contains everything included in the 21.1.4 Feature Release
Scroll down to the 21.1.4 Release to see all release notes, or navigate using the table of contents below:
Issue Resolutions Impacting Workflows for All Users
- Practices who do not use ePrescribing may have received Access Violations at login. This issue has been resolved.
OP 21.1.5 Release | Availability: Per email communication
This release contains everything included in the 21.1.4 Feature Release
Scroll down to the 21.1.4 Release to see all release notes.
Issue Resolutions Impacting Workflows for All Users
- The option to Export documents in Document Management was missing in the 21.1.4 release. This option has been restored.
- Previously, the header on diagnostic test printouts (both requisitions and results) was printing the practice address from the Billing/Pay-To Information (which can be located by navigating to: Practice Management > Staff/Providers > [select user] > Practice Info > Billing/Pay-To Information). This has been corrected so now the Report headings field (intended to show the practice's name and address) is populated from the Report Headings and Full Address fields, which can be located by navigating to: Practice Management > Staff/Providers > [select user] > Practice Info.
21.1.4 Release | Availability: Per email communication
Look out for these icons! |  Less Clicks Campaign! |  Major Update | You asked, we listened! |
New Features
New Status: Cancelled Same Day
Previously, a user could set the Visit Status of a broken appointment to only No Show (Red) or Cancelled (dark grey). Similarly, a user could set the Billing Status of a broken appointment to only No Show, No Show* (no-penalty no show), or Cancelled. Now, another option has been added to both areas: Cancelled Same Day. This will also appear as dark grey.
Note: Your custom reports may need to be updated to account for this new appointment status.
Archiving Old Tasks
Similar to archiving old Encounter Notes, Diagnostic Tests, and Referral Letters, you can now archive old Tasks in Admin > Archive Records > Database Cleanup. All Not Started tasks with a Due date on or prior to a given date can be swept into a Cancelled status.
New: Customizable Required Fields
Practices now have the ability to set additional minimum-necessary pieces of information for a new chart. In addition to the 7 existing minimum data needed, users have the ability to add any/all of an additional 9 fields as minimum practice requirements to create a new patient. The label of any "required" field that is missing data will turn red as a visual cue.
Practices may use this new feature to help meet immunization registry minimum data requirements for their state. For example, practices who are required to submit race and ethnicity to their state immunization registry might opt to make the race and ethnicity fields required.
For more information on this feature, please see the System Preferences: Demographics article.
Privacy Flag: Patient Adoption Status
A child's adoption status can potentially be a sensitive issue for families. Previously, when a clinician ticked the "Adopted" checkbox in Birth History, there was no way to restrict access to this information (or the age at which the child was adopted). Now, the user can choose a visibility level (e.g. Any staff member, Clinical staff only, etc.) for this information. This checkbox hides ONLY "Adopted: Y/N" and "Adopted at age ______". It does NOT hide ANY of the rest of the Birth History.
Note: To see the adoption status and to make the dropdown setting changeable, the user must have the Include confidential checkbox on the child's chart selected.
Resource Updates
New Bright Futures Handouts
32 new Bright Futures handouts were added to the database (12 English, 20 Spanish) on topics like acne, water safety and burn prevention, circumcision, and much more. To see all handouts, look in Clinical > [More] > Patient Education, then filter by BF (Bright Futures). You can now add these to your Orders/Patient education.
Note: These handouts will not be automatically added to your well visit templates, but you can select which ones you want and add them as Resources.
Improved Functionality For All Users - You Asked, We Answered!
Schedule/Tracking Screen
Tracking Screen
- PCP Now Visible: Now, a patient's PCP can be seen from the Tracking screen. Viewing/hiding the PCP can be set using the Tracking screen "hamburger".
- Insurance Now Visible: Now, a patient's primary and secondary insurance and primary and secondary insurance IDs can be seen from the Tracking screen. Viewing/hiding this information can be set using the Tracking screen "hamburger".
Repositioned Tasks and Slot Usage
The Tasks and Slot Usage panes have been moved higher on the right side of the Schedule for easier viewing.
Tasks Now Assignable to Person
Previously, you could assign tasks to a particular department. Now, you can also (in addition) assign tasks to a specific individual. Similarly, you can now search and filter for tasks assigned to a particular user.
Task Manager: New Date Filters
Previously, users could apply two types of date range filters to tasks in the Task Manager: date Due or date Requested. Now, users have four choices here: date Due, date Completed, date Created, or All. "Due" is unchanged. "Created" functions the same as "Requested" did (only the label is new). "Completed" permits a completion date search. "All" searches for tasks Due, tasks Created, OR tasks Completed within the given date range.
Behind-the-Scenes Improvements
We have:
- Updated components that will improve unity among different parts of the program.
- Replaced older toolbars with new ones that should behave with fewer errors and better performance.
- Increased behind-the-scenes security when OP interacts with your Correspondents (e-prescribing, clearinghouse, etc.)
Patient Banner: Secondary/Tertiary Ins
When customizing the Patient Banner, options to show secondary and tertiary insurance are now available.
Address Book
NPI Visible in Address Book Overview
Each Address Book entry has an entry where the user may put that contact's NPI (found in Edit Address > Staff/Provider tab.) However, previously the NPI was not one of the visible/filterable/sortable columns in the Address Book. Now, viewing/hiding the NPI can be set using the Address Book screen "hamburger".
Basic Email Validation
Basic email formatting validation has been added to the Address Book's email field. Further/advanced email validation will be added in a future release.
Staff Search Improvements
You can now search for staff in a case-insensitive way, i.e. BERTHA or bertha will find staff member Bertha Jones. You can now also initiate a search by pressing Enter as opposed to having to click the Search button.
Improved Functionality For Providers and/or Clinical Staff
Allergy
Allergy Group "User Assigned Title"
In the Allergy Data Map crosswalk window (Allergies > New > Allergy Group), the column previously labeled Description is now changed to User-Assigned Title. This better disambiguates between the SNOMED Description column (which should remain unchanged being part of the externally-defined SNOMED codeset) and a user-defined "friendly" name, which might be a synonym.
Allergy Classification
OP now gets the RXNORM code, not just the NDC, when the user creates a new Allergy to a medication. This will help make allergies by groups more accurate.
Customize CDA: "Notes" Option
A practice can customize which parts of an incoming CDA appear, and in which order. Now the Notes section of the CDA can also be set in this way.
Immunization Reports: More MMR Space
Immunization reports (Immunization Status Letter, Imm Status with Growth Info letter, and Imm Chart only) now have extra space in the MMR section (6 slots) to account for historical or international measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines given separately.
Patient Records SQL
A new SQL job in your Database Viewer called "Single Patient EHI Export" lets you export every single OP record in your primary database that relates to one patient. At runtime, you will be prompted for a patient number and a date range. This permits rapid export of all patient data in machine-readable format to comply with the 21st Century Cures act. For more information on use of this SQL job, see the How to Export All EHI For a Given Patient article.
CCD Generation
If you have been generating CCDs to send via DIRECT messages to external recipients, this will now take place within OP as opposed to within Intelichart. If you don't use Intelichart, the Clinical Document Architecture creation within OP has been updated to Version 2.1.
Improved Functionality For Non-Clinical and/or Billing Staff
Hide Inactive Insurances via Checkbox
Previously, inactive insurances would accumulate in the Insurance window, cluttering the view. Now, a checkbox to Hide Inactive Insurances - checked by default - appears on the patient Insurance screen. A user can view inactive insurances by unchecking the Hide Inactive box. The checkbox is not affected by preference setting.
New Document PATNO: Jump to Results
When creating a new Document in Document Management, one of the first steps is for the user to select a patient. A user might directly type in the patient number (PATNO) and hit enter. The search pane, with a single search result (the patient with that PATNO) appears. Previously, however, the focus of the screen was not on the single search result but higher up, on the search parameters. The user would have to mouse/tab to the search result every time. Now, after a successful PATNO search, the panel auto-focuses on the search result, and the user can simply hit Enter to accept it.
Schedule: "Save + Chart" Button
After using the Add/Edit appointment screen to create or view a scheduled appointment, the user may now close the screen with a Save + Chart button, which will automatically bring up that patient's chart in the Basic Information window.
Add/Edit Appointment Patient Demographic Banner
Users asked for additional demographic information to show on the Add/Edit Appointment screen while scheduling an appointment. We tried making the Add/Edit appointment screen bigger but ran into "screen real estate" issues. However, we've added this information to a collapsible/expandable Appointment Patient Banner.
Note: this is a different feature than the general Patient Banner, but the interfaces behave similarly.
Capture "Created By" for Charges
A Created By column has been added to patient Superbills. This displays the user who created each charges for the patient. Capturing the charge creator depends on the type of charge (e.g. E&M code, Survey, in-house lab, vaccine, etc); for a detailed crosswalk, see this article. To view this column in a patient's Charges window, click the "hamburger" in the Superbill (Unposted Charges) pane.
Payer: New Claim Category Override
Typically, when users create new claims, they want that claim to immediately move to the claims queue (Category Q1) or save it to be queued later (Category Q0). However, sometimes users want to automatically pend certain types of claims, e.g. for newborns. The Claim Category Override feature permits users to automatically set a different default Category when they save new claims for a particular payer. For example, a practice who assigns newborn claims to a placeholder insurance of NEWBORN might activate this feature and put all NEWBORN claims in a pending (Category P0) state. An unusual payer that requires special manual handling of claims might be auto-set to Queued for Office (Category QR).
PMX: More Room to Text
Text (SMS) messages are limited to 160 characters. When sending Patient Message eXchange (PMX) messages, OP needs to reserve some of these 160 characters for statutory requirements, like the opt out message. Previously, OP limited users to 116 characters. Now, users may use as many as 137 characters.
Note: Messages are still limited to 160 characters total. It is possible that a message to a patient with a very long name may have the end of the message cut off if the practice does not reserve enough space for name substitution.
Changing Zipcode Updates City and State
In OP, when creating a new patient, you can simply enter the patient's zip code and it would automatically populate the city and state associated with that zip code. However, previously if you changed an existing zipcode, the city and state would not update. Now they do.
Family Address Change: New Preference
A new global preference disables the Family Address Change form from opening any time a primary phone or address is changed on a patient. A practice that chooses not to update linked family contacts may now change this setting.
Note: By default, all practices will still have Family Address Change enabled, i.e. no change from current behavior.
"Imm Chart Only" Return Address
Two of the three standard patient immunization reports (Immunization Status Letter and Imm Status with Growth Info) list the practice's address in the upper left hand corner, suitable for showing in a return address window. Previously, the third report (Imm Chart Only) did not. Now all three show the practice's address in the upper left corner.
Schedule
Schedule Template: Basic Information Buttons
Practices experience confusion when trying to apply schedule slot templates to a provider's schedule. We have added yellow Info buttons next to the Apply Through and Reapply As Of with hints. Hint language will be refined in a future release.
Tracking Billing Panel: Family Balance
The Billing Panel (visible from the Tracking Screen when "Show Billing Panel" is checked) now shows family balance and family credits, in addition to patient balance and credits.
Hide Broken Appointments Option
In the Schedule in the Settings dropdown, you now have the option to hide appointments with a broken status (No Show, Cancelled, or Cancelled Same Day). Individual users can save this setting as a screen preference. By default, these boxes will not be checked.
POS 21 Alert
Previously, when a biller entered charges for POS 21, it was easy to forget to enter the Facility ID and Hospital Dates blank. Sending a claim for inpatient services without this data results in rejections and denials. Now, if either of those fields are left blank when POS is 21, a warning message appears that facility ID and hospital dates are needed.
Hide Expired "Contracts for CPT"
OP permits you to see your contracted rates with each payer for a particular CPT (Clinical > Procedure (CPT) Codes > Contracts). Previously, all contracted rates - even those contracts that had expired - were visible. Now, expired contracts are hidden by default. You can still view expired contracts by unchecking the Hide Expired checkbox.
Insurance field now in Statements
Pending statements (Billing Center > Statements) can be sorted by balance, patient name, or other fields. Now you can sort statements by a patient's current primary insurance. This field can be enabled using the "hamburger."
Note: This field shows the patient's CURRENT insurance, which may or may not be the same as the insurance(s) covering the patient during periods in the statement.
Issue Resolutions Impacting Workflows for All Users
Hyphens in Message Phone Numbers
Previously, messages would frequently display without hyphens in the Phone field of the Messages window. Now, hyphens will display in phone numbers IF the phone numbers are created correctly in the patient Register.
Note: Phone numbers which are improperly formatted in the Register - less than 10 digits, more than 10 digits, or that contain alpha characters - may continue to display oddly in the Message window and elsewhere in OP.
Schedule: Phone Numbers Keep Hyphens
OP prints phone numbers with hyphens in the Schedule appointment text. Previously, if the phone number was changed AFTER an appointment was added to the schedule, the phone number attached to the appointment would update, but the hyphens would disappear. Now the phone number updates and preserves the hyphens.
Register Reports in Disclosures
Patient documents printed from OP should have copies automatically generated in that patient's Document Management in the Disclosures section. Previously, documents printed from Register Reports did not have copies appear automatically in Disclosures. Now they do.
Consent Form Now Standard Zoom
Database Viewer
Alert for Blank "Preferred Email"
General Letters: "Date Written"
Schedule
Documents/Document Manager
Issue Resolutions Impacting Providers and/or Clinical Staff Workflows
Weird Lab Order/Result Crossover
Previously, users might see seemingly-random results attached to Diagnostic Test Orders. The results were often for a different patient, for a different test, and/or for a test done years ago. We have improved validation and added a second level of matching order/result linkages to resolve this issue.
Respect the NDC!
Medications may exist in several very-similar,-but-not-quite-identical forms, each with its own NDC. While in many cases a provider may not care which particular presentation of "amoxicillin, suspension, 400 mg/5 ml" he/she prescribes, there may be circumstances (e.g. Medicaid formulary) where a very particular NDC prescription must be issued. Previously, when a user prescribed a particular NDC using the Master List, the NDC sent to the pharmacy was not necessarily the NDC that the provider had chosen. Surescripts would send the first drug in its list that had a matching FDB Rx ID - which may, or may not, have been the precise NDC selected. This failure to "Respect the NDC" sometimes caused conflicts between a prescriber record and a pharmacy record. Now, this behavior has been fixed and the eRx system will Respect the NDC prescribed by the provider.
Note: This only applies to prescriptions issued from the Master List - prescriptions generated from Med Favorites already respect the choice of NDC.
Immunizations
CDA
Controlled Substances Theoretical Loophole Blocked
Signing Non-Med/School Note "Rxs"
School Exam: Defaults for "Neurologic"
Rescored Survey Alerts
Asthma Plans: View/Print
Same Day Orders on Notes
Issue Resolutions Impacting Non-Clinical Staff and/or Billing Staff Workflows
Bulk Payment Errors Fixed
OP permits you to post a large amount against multiple patient accounts, known as bulk posting. Previously, when the patient also had an available credit, OP would get confused and interrupt your bulk insurance payment process so that you could apply the patient credit. In doing so, it lost several variables that the user had set, such as the payment date and the payment method. This potentially required the user to re-enter these variables multiple times during a bulk payment activity. This has been fixed.
INS CARRIER CODE returns
In a prior update, the primary (and secondary, if applicable) insurance carrier codes were removed from the Claims view. This meant practices were unable to tell which insurance carrier posted which payment/adjustment. Now, insurance carrier codes have been restored to charge, payment, adjustment, patient responsibility, and revert patient responsibility transaction lines.
Appointment Reason Now Shows
This fixes a bug seen on scheduled appointments. Previously, when creating a new appointment, if a user entered the appointment reason ("Cough") before selecting the appointment type ("EST. SICK"), the appointment reason would not appear in the appointment text box on the Schedule. Now, users can enter the appointment reason before the appointment type, and both the appointment type and appointment reason will show in the appointment text box.
Copying Insurance from Family
To create a new insurance record, one method that OP permits is copying from a family member. Previously, however, when clicking the Copy From in the Insurance screen, the user had to click around several places in the Search screen to get the family members of the index patient to appear. Now the user need only click "Family" in the Search pane for family members to appear.
