PracticeSuite Release Note
Product Release Version: 24.0.0
EHR Version: EHR-18.0.0
Product Release Date: June 2024
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Printed June 2024 at PracticeSuite, Inc., 3206 Cove Bend Dr., Suite A, Tampa, FL 33613
Part 1- Product Enhancements
1.1 Scheduler- Appointment Count in Header
The total appointment count of a provider for the day will be displayed beside the name of the provider in the calendar header and visible in the calendar’s Provider View.
1.2 Documents Manager
1.2.1 Document E-Sign
Our enhanced document manager now provides various ways to work with patient documents. Users can now sign documents electronically, share them with patients, and mark them as review completed. The view button beside the document when clicked, opens the document as shown in Image 1.2.1a.
- Added a new Share with Patient option, letting users mark documents that can be shared with their patients.
- Users can use the Sign Electronically option to sign documents. When a document is signed, the remarks section will show who signed it and when.
- Users can mark a document as reviewed using the Mark as Reviewed check box.
- The document list in the middle pane has been updated to show the review, share, and signed status of each document; see Image 1.2.1b.
1.2.2 Document Date added to Doc. Manager
In the Document Manager, the document listing will now show the document date. The date displayed here is the date entered when saving the file. Users can edit the document date, description, file name, and document type.
To make changes, double-click on a row and click Update when done.
1.2.3 Defaulting Provider in Doc Manager
The provider in the doc manager will default as follows: When a user opens the document manager screen from within the EHR, the provider field will automatically default to the rendering provider listed in the patient’s chart. If it is opened from the Patient Demographics, the field will pick the rendering provider assigned to the patient on the demographics. If opened from within the WorkQueue or the Collection Manager, the provider field will be automatically filled based on information from the claim.
1.3 Patient Demographics- Option to Opt-Out of Appt. Reminders
Patients can now opt out of appointment reminders and other notifications from the practice. To enable this for a patient, the practice can select the Do not Send Notifications checkbox in the Other Attributes screen of the patient demographics.
1.4 EHR
1.4.1 Updated Immunization Screen
The immunization entry screen within the Specialty tab has been redesigned and now features three new tabs: New, Historical, and Refusal.
- The New tab is for entering the vaccinations administered for the current visit. It also includes patient consent information.
- The Historical tab is used to record past vaccines administered for the patient.
- The Refusal tab is for documenting any vaccine(s) declined by the patient.
New | Historical | Refusal | |
Main Objective | Vaccine(s) administered for the current visit | To record patient’s previous vaccinations | To record vaccines declined by the patient |
Mandatory Fields | Vaccine, Lot Number, Expiration Date, Provider, Ordering Provider, Administration Date, VFC Program, Consent Type & Consent Date | Vaccine | Vaccine, Reason & Provider |
Current Immunizations
Past Immunizations
Declined Immunizations
1.4.2 EHR Lookup Enhancement
The EHR Lookup screen now mirrors the common lookup interface.
1.4.3 Enhanced Navigation for Charting
The left-hand side navigation tree of level 1 components on the charting screen will remain open by default. Users can utilize this feature to navigate easily from one component to another by clicking on the component rather than scrolling through the entire narration editor. Click on Level 1 to access it, and clicking the beside Level 1 opens the Level 2 popup screen directly.
1.4.4 Pick and Choose Option for Printing FaceSheet
The software now allows selective printing of Facesheet items. Users can use checkboxes to select which items should be included in the PDF output. By default, all items are selected. Items that do not have data will be disabled.
1.4.5 Facesheet Tooltip Displays Complete SIG Info
The Medications section in the Facesheet will henceforth display the complete SIG information as a tooltip. The tooltip is also available for the Facesheet copy of medications in the Level 2 popup inside the charting screen.
1.4.6 Displaying the Lab Results
The summary page in the Lab Results tab will now present results in the same color-coded format as seen on the Details page. Color coding is based on the abnormal flags received from the lab. Additionally, the Notes column features a tooltip that displays the notes from the lab result. The reference range has also been made visible.
The narration of lab charts will also display the lab results in color-coded format in tabular form.
1.4.7 Print Option for Growth Charts
The growth charts can now be printed using the print option beside the respective growth chart icon.
1.4.8 Lab Trending Screen Accepts Non-Numerical Data
The LAB_RESULTS drop-down in the flowsheet can now accept non-numerical values and display them in tabular form in the upper section. Positive and negative values in the result can be plotted in the lab trending graph in the lower section.
1.4.9 ICD Search Upgrade
The ICD search within the charting area has been rebuilt to both look and feel and functionally resemble the procedure code search. The ellipsis opens the ICD Repository search, akin to the procedure code search. The searched ICDs can now be added to the chart immediately. To apply this upgraded feature, enter ICD10 in Level-1’s Code field.
1.4.10 Lab Remarks to be Displayed on Narration Screen
From now on, lab remarks can be viewed in the Narration section. Remarks entered from the Lab Hub screen will be included in the resultant HL-7 chart under the Level-1 component labeled Remarks.
Use tag #@LAB_RESULT_REMARKS#@ for the ‘Remarks’ component.
1.4.11 Follow-up Charts to Exclude Lab Orders
Henceforth, the lab and radiology orders within the parent chart will not be copied into the follow-up chart.
1.4.12 Order Labs for Past Problems
Users can now order lab tests based on past problems, not only those currently listed in the chart. A new tab called Past Problems in Level 2 displays diagnoses from the previous encounters.
1.4.13 Facesheet Copy for Problem List
The Facesheet copy option for the problem list will only copy the active items and ignore any resolved items.
1.4.14 Auto Count Refresh in the ‘For-Review’ Tab
The For Review tab of the Clinical Desktop will refresh the count in real time.
1.4.15 Custom Report from K3 Report
A new custom report that pulls patients’ data from all the encounters has been introduced. The report ‘K3. Patient Clinical Analysis Report’ now has a PDF icon to bring this report up. All components in the encounter sheets that have the tag ‘#@REPORT_TAG#@’ under the Begin Text field will appear in the custom report.
1.5 Lab Hub –Lab Order Status Update
When results are received for an order, the order status in the Lab Hub will automatically update to Completed.
1.6 ERA- Change to Partial Refund Processing
From now on, partial ERA auto-refund processing will occur if either the paid or the adjustment amounts that were originally applied for the claim are greater than or equal to the paid or adjustment amounts received in the ERA with the reversal. Earlier, a refund occurred only when both the paid and adjustment amounts applied before were greater than the paid and adjustment amounts in the ERA.
1.7 eFax
1.7.1 New Folder to Show All Failed Faxes
The eFax module now includes a Failed Fax bucket to list all failed faxes. All failed faxes automatically move to this new bucket. Users can also conveniently resend failed faxes from this location. The total count of failed faxes will also be displayed in red next to the folder name.
1.7.2 Option to Fax Copy of the Lab Result
Users can now fax the actual copy of the lab results they receive in the Lab Hub. When results arrive in the Lab Hub and are processed in the system, a PDF copy sent from the lab is automatically saved in the Doc Manager under the document type LAB RESULTS. If such a document type does not exist, a new one will be created. Users can also fax these documents from here. The file name will be in the following format:
<Lab_Name> Lab <Test Date(mm-dd-yyyy)>.pdf
1.7.3 Removed Attachment Count Limit
The earlier restriction of three attachments per fax message has been removed, and users can now fax any number of files. However, the total size of all files in a single message should not exceed 50 MB. A warning will appear on the screen if the size of the attachment(s) exceeds the permitted limit.
1.7.4 Document Rename Option in eFax
Users can now rename files received in the eFax inbox directly from the screen. Previously, they had to navigate to the Document Manager to rename a document. The popup for mapping the patient includes the option to rename the file.
1.8 Credit Card Payment- New Gateway
PracticeSuite introduces a new payment gateway, Paya for credit card processing.
1.9 Charge Master-UI Upgrade
The Charge Master screen has been upgraded to the new UI.
1.10 Manual Payment Posting- Repositioned the Line Sub Status Field
The Line Sub Status field has been moved next to the Next Action dropdown on the manual payment posting screen.
1.11 Print Option in UB04 Charge Entry Screen
A print option has been introduced to the UB04 charge entry screen. This feature allows users to print the UB04 claim form directly from the screen, similar to the feature in the professional claim’s charge entry screen.
1.12 Auto-Case Creation
For patients whose account type is either self-pay or self-pay-ins, a cash case will be automatically added for the patient in the system (if the ‘Auto-case Creation’ setting is enabled in the Billing Options screen).
Note: If the patient already has an active Cash case, a new Cash case will not be automatically added for the patient.
1.13 RCM Work Queue Assignments- New Parameters Added
In the RCM Work Queue Assignments screen, two new parameters have been made available for the rule configuration. The two new parameters are Service Location and Patient.
Note: For service location search, users can search using either a service location name or state. If the user types in the first letter of a state name, all service locations under the state are listed in the drop-down. If it is a service location name, a list of all matching names will appear.
1.14 WorkQueue Updates
- The hierarchical display of claims in the left pane of the Work Queue has been updated as follows: Priority → Rule → KPI Category → KPI
- A new bucket called Unallocated has been introduced in the Work Queue. It will list only those claims that do not belong to any specific rule.
- Going forward, Collection Manager denials will appear in the Work Queue. For this, a new KPI named Collection Denials has been added to the H2 report. Users can pull this information into the Work Queue using the Mark as Work Queue Item checkbox.
1.15 Offline Reporting Feature
The offline reporting feature has been made available for the following reports:
1. I6. Posting Detail Report
2. I20. Payments By Month By Provider Detailed Report
1.16 Letter Master: New Letter Tags
Two new tags for the insurance group # have been created specifically for secondary and tertiary insurance. The tags are as follows:
#@Pat_Se_GroupId#@ for secondary
#@Pat_Tr_GroupId#@ for tertiary
The primary insurance group ID #@PatGroupId#@ has been renamed to #@Pat_Pr_GroupId#@
The tags will be available in letters created from the scheduler, patient search page, and EHR.
1.17 Inter-office Messages- Real-time Update of Unread Count
The unread message count displayed in the inbox header and the counts in the left pane will reflect the real-time number of unread messages. The count in the left pane will also automatically update. Additionally, the header count now includes the unread fax messages (which were previously excluded).
Part -2 Reports
2.1 I8. Summary Encounter Line Activities Report
The CSV and offline outputs of the I8 report will now include the encounter creation date in the last column.
2.2 H1 and H3 Reports
H1. Executive Dashboard Report and H3. End of Month Report Package have been temporarily removed from Report Central as it contained data errors and formatting issues. The reports will be reinstated once these errors have been resolved.
Part 3: Resolved Items
3.1 EHR
3.1.1 Alignment Issue in Clinical Note
Alignment issues with Rich Text Data and X-Para data displayed in clinical note have been addressed.
3.1.2 Duplication Issue in Level-1 Billing
In the charting tool’s level-1 billing section, certain scenarios (such as adding new procedure codes) previously caused level-2 down items not to populate correctly. This issue has now been resolved.
3.1.3 Rx Status Page Error
The newly introduced Rx Status page failed to display the NewCrop content for certain types of user roles. This is now corrected.
3.2 Group Login- Missing Patient’s Insurance Field
On the SSO screen, the patient’s insurance was not being displayed on the patient master page. This is now resolved.
3.3 Discrepancy in Favorite KPI Counts
We have resolved the discrepancies between some KPI counts on the home page and their related reports. The others will be resolved in the upcoming releases. The corrected KPIs are:
*Claims That Are 45 Days From Response Limit Threshold
*Patients With Balances And Statements Have Been Sent For At least 3 Times
*Write Off Other Than Sfs Write Offs
*Clearinghouse Rejections
*Payer Rejections
3.4 Lab Hub
3.4.1 Non-functional Links
The non-functional View Requisition and View Label options in the ellipsis menu of the Lab Hub screen have been corrected.
3.4.2 Issue with Items in ‘Review Pending’ Status
The provider filter and the Ordered-on DOS hyperlink were not working for items in’ Review Pending’ status. These have been corrected, and we have resolved the issue with the Mark as Reviewed checkbox as well on the Lab Hub screen.
3.5 Charge Master- Case Edit Issue
When users opened the Case screen from the Charge Master, the authorization number was not being displayed in the auth# field and both the authorization number and the guarantor drop-downs became unresponsive and could not be updated. Both of these items have been resolved.