7.3.14 Service Pack Release Notes 10-20-2010

• System Conventions
  
• User Desktop
  
• Billing
  
• Collections
  
• Managed Care
  
• Patient
  
• Reports
  
• Schedule
  
• System
  
• Tables
  
• Transactions
  
• NetTools
  
• Did You Know?
  

• Shortcut keys have been added for the Action Column functions in the following menus: Change Patient Data; Review Patient Information; Maintain Patient Recalls; Procedure Entry Function; and Payment Entry Function. Alt+T opens Today's Schedule, Alt+N opens Normal Lookup and Alt+A opens Accessed Today.
  
  
• You can no longer access the right-click functionality on the NetPracticePM screens. This ensures increased security.
  
  
• Patient Look-Up Function - If you search by DOB, the search now includes the date of birth stored in the new Birth Date field in the Guarantor Information screen. See the Patient section of these release notes for more information.

• Practice Vitals Dashboard - It was possible for the practice vitals to not display when you selected an individual doctor. This has been resolved.
  
  
• Support (Online Support Center) - In the Maintain Users administration function, the Download RVU's and Download Fee Schedules options have been removed. These are not available OSC menus as these functions are handled directly through the NetPracticePM menus.

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• Automatic Line Item Write-Off by Billing Group and Automatic Line Item Write-Off by Performing Doctor (Insurance Billing Functions) *New Functionality* The former Automatic Balance Write-Off by Billing Group and Automatic Balance Write-Off by Performing Doctor have been renamed and the menus moved out from under the Delinquent Insurance Menu. The functionality remains the same with the exception of the following changes:
  • An Include Collection Balances field has been added so that you can choose whether or not to write off the patient balances that are considered collection balances - have a C next to them in the I (Insurance Flag) column of the patient's transaction history. The options are not available to select unless you have selected the Include Patient Balances check box. If you do select the Include Patient Balances check box, this field becomes available and is required.
    
    
  • You can no longer set up this screen with Defaults, Fixed and Required fields. This icon (paper with red check mark) is no longer available to select from the bottom right corner of the screen. But, if you had previously selected defaults, fixed or required fields on this screen, those selections will remain.
  
  
• Print Confirmation Report (Insurance Billing Functions, Electronic Claims, Printing Options) *New Functionality* An Emdeon Vision Action Column function has been added which automatically accesses and logs you into the Emdeon site based on the Username and Password entered in the Emdeon Vision Integration. Refer to the System section of these release notes for more information, as there is important Action Required on your part.
  
  
• Print Delinquent Insurance Forms (Insurance Billing Functions, Delinquent Insurance Menu) - Print Delinquent Insurance Forms and Reprint Delinquent Insurance Forms (Insurance Billing Functions, Delinquent Insurance Menu) *Clients using the HCFA Alignment Wizard Program Only* The words ***SECOND SUBMISSION*** now print at the top of these claim forms.
  
  
• Print Exception Report (Insurance Billing Functions, Electronic Claims) - An exception for Patient Zip Code must be 5 or 9 digits has been added. This exception occurs if you have entered a valid US State/Territory code but do not have an adequate number of digits in the Zip Code field. Any issues with the Zip Code were previously included in the Patient Address exception.
  
  
• Print Insurance Forms (Insurance Billing Functions) -
  
  • *Arkansas Clients using HCFA Alignment Wizard Program Only* Per Arkansas Medicaid requirements, HCFA Box 33B will print with the legacy group number as long as the number is in the Group Number field in Maintain Dr Provider Group Numbers for the Medicaid carrier and that Medicaid carrier is set up as Insurance Form D in Maintain Insurance Carriers.
    
    
  • *Idaho Clients using HCFA Alignment Wizard Program Only* - *New Functionality* Per Idaho Medicaid requirements, for Insurance Form D claims, HCFA Box 32 will print the Service Location address and 32a will print the Medicaid Prov/Facility Number from Maintain Location Codes if the Service Location differs from the Billing Provider information in Box 33.
    
    
  • *Idaho Clients using HCFA Alignment Wizard Program Only* Per Idaho Medicaid requirements, for Insurance Form D claims, HCFA Box 17A will be blank if there is an NPI number in Box 17B. If there is no NPI in Box 17B, then 17A will print the Qualifier and Provider Number.
  
  
• Send Electronic Statements - *Linking Databases Only* When a statement is printed for one family member, the Last Statement Date is updated and the Adj Code for Stmts transaction (if indicated in NetPracticePM Default Values) is recorded on all linked accounts, even if they are not included on the statement.
  
  
• Update Confirmation Report Inquiry (Insurance Billing Functions, Electronic Claims, File Maintenance) *New Functionality* An Emdeon Vision Action Column function has been added which automatically accesses and logs you into the Emdeon site based on the Username and Password entered in the Emdeon Vision Integration. Refer to the System section of these release notes for more information, as there is important Action Required on your part.

• Work Accounts (Patient Collections) - When you click Payment Plan in the Action Column to add a new payment plan, the Status for Default field is now a required field and defaults with the status stored in the Collection Payment Plan Failed field in the Patient Collections Integration. If the Status for Default field was blank on previously existing payment plans, it will remain blank and you will have to select a status before saving the payment plan. If another status was selected on previously existing payment plans, that status remains.

• Maintain Service Scripts (Service Script Tracking Menu) - *New Functionality* A Print Action Column function has been added so you can print the detail of an individual service script.

• Add Financial Account for Patient - *New Functionality* A Select Existing Account function has been added to the Action Column. With this function you can choose an account to link (as the financial account) to the selected account. The first name, last name and date of birth must match on both accounts.
  
  
• Case Management (Change Patient Data) - In the Insurance Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary drop-down lists, carriers that have the Special Billing check box selected in the patient's Insurance Policy Information detail screen will have an asterisk (*) in front of them.
  
  
• DMS (Change Patient Data) - It was possible for DMS Alert Messages to not display in all functions even when the All Functions check box was selected. This has been resolved.
  
  
• DMS (Change Patient Data) - *Idaho Clients Only* - *New Functionality* The IRIS DMS Record has been removed as the state of Idaho immunization registry no longer requires parental consent information.
  
  
• Guarantor Information (Change Patient Data) - A Country Code field and a County field have been added in the Guarantor section and in the Secondary Address section.
  
  
• Guarantor Information (Change Patient Data) -A Birth Date field has been added so you can store the Guarantor's date of birth, which is helpful when the Guarantor and the Policy Holder on the insurance are two different people.
  
  • A BD field has been added to the Guarantor Information section on the patient summary screen to reflect this stored date of birth.
    
    
  • Any time you update the Patient Name and Address Information or the Guarantor Information, the patient's date of birth will copy to the guarantor's Birth Date field if the Rel to Guarantor field in the Patient Name and Address Information screen is Same (0).
    
    
  • *ScanSharp Clients Only* The guarantor's Birth Date field will update from the guarantor's scanned driver's license.
  
  
• History (Change Patient Data) -
  
  • *Linking Databases Only* - If an account is not linked to a master account then the statement image icon would not display in that patient's transaction history next to the 'statement sent' adjustment line item. This has been resolved.
    
    
  • *New Functionality* When you print patient statements, each time the statement adjustment is posted in the patient's transaction history (based on the Adj Code for Stmts stored in NetPracticePM Default Values), the Description column now reflects 'how' the statement was printed. In the Printers dialog box, if you select Print Here, the Description is Screen; if you select Output to Disk, the description is File; if you select MyReports, the description is MyReports; and if you print directly to a printer, the description is Printer.
    
    
  • If you used the Insert Special Code Action to insert a code, Inserted and the date that the code was inserted displays on the Transaction History Detail screen for that code.
  
  
• Insurance (Change Patient Data) - A Spec Bill column has been added to the patient's Insurance Policy Information summary screen to indicate, by a check mark in the column, that the insurance carrier is marked as 'Special Billing' (has the Special Billing check box selected in the Insurance Policy Information screen).
  
  
• New Patient/Follow Up Reports (Patient Listings) - *New Functionality* A Date of Service or Date of First Visit field was added, and is available if you select New patients, so you can indicate if you want the report to run, based on the date range you enter, by the accounting date of the first posted date of service or by the date stored in the Date of First Visit field in the Patient Name and Address Information screen. The report sorts by the selection you make, but both the Date of First Visit (if one is stored) and the dates of service will print for comparison. If you select the Follow Up option, the Date of Service or Date of First Visit options are unavailable.
  
  
• Patient Hospital Rounds List (Patient Listings) - This menu has been removed from the main Patient Menu. The Patient Hospital Rounds List exists under Patient, Patient Listings.
  
  
• Patient Registration - A Birth Date field has been added to the Guarantor Information screen. See the Guarantor Information entry in this section of these release notes for more information.
  
  
• Patient Registration - If you have the Register option selected in the Scheduling System Integration and you selected to register a patient who had authorization information entered through Add a Patient Referral, the authorization information would not copy into Patient Registration. This has been resolved.
  
  
• Print All Data for Active Patients (Patient Listings) - In the Print Information drop-down list, the User Defined Records option name has been changed to DMS Records.

• Add or Change a Letter (Data Management System, DMS Letter Processor) - A GuarantorBirthDate element has been added to account for the new Birth Date field on the Guarantor Information screen. See the Patient section of these release notes for additional information.

• E-Superbill (Patient Check In/Out) - It was possible for a Claim Note entered through the Notes Action Column function to not be stored in Unposted Procedures. This has been resolved.
  
  
• Edit Doctor Schedules (Doctor Schedule Maintenance) - Previously, you could not place more than four reserves on a time slot. This has been resolved and the maximum number of reserves that you can place on a time slot now matches the number stored in the Max Appt/Unit field in Edit Doctor Schedules. If you attempt to add more reserves than allowed, a message, You are only allowed x reserve(s) per time slot based on the Max Appt/Unit field in Edit Doctor Schedules displays.
  
  
• Enter Patient Appointments -
  
  • On the appointment details screen, the question mark (?) icon next to the Service Script field now turns blue to indicate that there are valid Service Scripts on the account for this appointment. Click the icon to access the Service Script summary screen.
    
    
  • If you clicked the Inquiry Action Column function, selected a patient and then clicked either the Deletions Only or Reschedules Only Action Column function and there were no deletions or reschedules for that patient, a message displayed and the screen returned to the Enter Patient Appointments screen. Now the screen remains on the Inquiry screen for the selected patient.
    
    
  • If your system is set to Pre-Register in the Scheduling System Integration and you clicked Inquiry, selected the pre-registered (R) account and chose to assign an account number, it was possible for the account to not merge with the matching account that was already fully registered. This has been resolved.
  
  
• Verify Eligibility (Verify Eligibility) - An error could occur if there were accounts in the batch that had a secondary and/or tertiary insurance carrier, but no primary insurance carrier on the account. This has been resolved.
  
  
• Wait List (Enter Patient Appointments) -
  
  • If you click the Wait List Action Column function and then the Add/Edit Filter Action Column function, the QuikLink icon has been removed from the bottom of the screen.
    
    
  • When you click the Print Action Column function, the Print Deleted Entries label has been changed to Print Deleted Entries only to indicate that if you select this check box, only the deleted Wait List entries will print.
    
    
  • When you click the Print Action Column function to print the Wait List, several enhancements have been made to the printout to match the Wait List summary screen.
    
    
  • It was possible for the Entry Date column on the Wait List Summary screen to reflect the appointment date. This has been resolved and the Entry Date now reflects only the date the patient was added to the wait list, regardless of how the patient was added.
    
    
  • When you click the Add Patient Action Column function and select a patient, several changes have been made to the Add a Patient to Wait List screen:
    
    • The Preferred Doctor, Preferred Location and Type of Visit fields have been changed to drop-down list boxes so you can select the correct parameters.
      
    • The Last, First Name field has been removed since the information shows above in the patient demographics section.
      
    • Previously, the Units field defaulted with the number of units stored in the Type of Visit Table. This has been changed and now if a preferred doctor is selected, the Units field defaults with the number of units stored in the Unit Integration Table for that doctor and type of visit. If there is nothing stored there, then it will default to the number of units stored in the Type of Visit Table for that type of visit.
      
    • The length of the Reason field has been changed to allow 19 characters.
      
    • The length of the Authorization field has been changed to allow only 25 characters, since that is what is allowed in Maintain Authorizations.
      
    • A ? icon has been added to the right of the Authorization field so you can access the existing authorizations or Add an Auth to the account.
      
    • The length of the Comment fields has been increased to allow 50 characters.

• Emdeon Vision Integration (Database Maintenance Menu) - *Clients who have claims processed by Emdeon Only* *New Functionality*
  
  NOTE: If you have multiple databases functioning under one Tax ID number, then you will still receive your paper reports and this release note does not apply to your practice at this time.
  
  As of October 31, 2010, Emdeon will no longer provide CompuGroup with detailed confirmation reports. The only way you will be able to access the detailed confirmation reports is through the Emdeon Web site. You can access an Emdeon Frequently Asked Questions document from the Knowledge Tree under: EDI\Emdeon\Reports.
  
  The purpose of this integration is to store the Emdeon usernames and passwords to enable automatic login to the Emdeon Web site from within NetPracticePM (currently from Print Confirmation Report and Update Confirmation Report Inquiry. See the Billing section of these release notes for more information). Any time you change your username or password with Emdeon, you must update it in this integration to be able to automatically log in to Emdeon through the NetPracticePM menus.
  
  *Action Required*
  
  • A username and password has already been set up for your practice and it displays in bold font.
    
  • When you access Emdeon through NetPracticePM for the first time, you will be required to enter the temporary password, Welcome123, and create a new password.
    
  • You must then enter the new password into the Emdeon Integration. Click the row containing your practice name and enter the new password over the old/temporary password. The password displays as dots for security so you must ensure to enter it exactly as it was entered in the Emdeon Web site. You should also keep it in a separate, secure location for your reference.
    
  • If your practice has already registered with Emdeon, enter the existing username and password for the practice in the integration.
    
  • If you have individual users in your practice register with Emdeon, you can add them to this integration so they can automatically login to Emdeon with their existing username and password. Click Add User in the Action Column, select the NetPracticePM User Name and type the existing Emdeon Vision User Name and Emdeon Vision Password. The Active check box enables that user to automatically login through the NetPracticePM menus. If you clear the check box, the users information will still display on the summary screen. You can also Delete a users information.
    
  • If a user does not have their individual Emdeon information added to the integration, they can still be automatically logged in under the practices username and password. If you do not want all users with access to the NetPracticePM functions that link to Emdeon to be able to access the Emdeon Web site, then you should inactivate the practice user and maintain only individual user information in the integration.
  
  
• Merge Patient Accounts (File Maintenance Menu) - Several changes have been made to the functionality and appearance of this function:
  
  • The function now occurs in the background to prevent Internet Explorer timeout errors.
    
  • The instructional information on the initial Merge Patient Accounts screen has been updated to reflect all changes made to the function.
    
  • You now select the accounts (type the account number or click the ellipsis icon) you want to merge From and To on the initial screen. The Merge from Account field is now listed first followed by the Merge to Account field.
    
  • After you select the accounts, the patient's name and account number displays and you can click this link to access Change Patient Data for that account.
    
  • A confirmation prompt has been added so you can confirm whether or not you want to merge the accounts before the process begins.
    
  • A status screen now displays the status of the merge throughout the process.
    
  • If the accounts cannot be merged, a message displays with the reasons why they cannot be merged.
    
  • This function now ignores matching $0.00 adjustments, including the Statement Sent and Collection Letter adjustments so these do not need to be voided from the 'from' account before merging.
    
  • If an error occurs, it displays on the screen and you must contact customer service. Any changes made up to the point of the error are not stored.
  
  
• Model User Menus (User Management) - The Everyone option has been removed from the User Name drop-down list. An error could occur if you selected this option. The menus available to each user should be selected for each user individually.
  
  
• NetReminder Integration (Database Maintenance Menu) - *NetReminder Clients Only* - *New Functionality* - An audit has been done to determine the number of providers that each NetReminder client is currently paying for. This service pack updates the Maximum Providers stored in the background to the correct number.
  
  *Action Required*: You must go to the NetReminder Integration menu and in the 'Provider' fields, select the providers that you want NetReminder calls to be made for. Beginning with Version 7.4, calls will be made only for the providers stored in these fields.
  
  
• Scheduling System Integration (Database Maintenance Menu) - The Days for Wait List is now a required field. If you have left this field blank, the Wait List will operate as if 30 days was stored in this field. *Action Required* If you want your Wait List entries (that were added to the Wait List by any method other than through an actual appointment) to remain on the Wait List for a different time period, you must type the number of days you want in the Days for Wait List field.
  
  
• Security Control File (User Management) - *New Functionality* - Previously, this function would prompt a user to reset their password based on the days stored in the Days to Reset Passwords field based on the last time that user logged in. So, if a user logged in frequently, they were never prompted to reset their password. This has been changed and now the user will be prompted to reset their password based on the number stored in the Days to Reset Passwords field. The count will restart with the date that this service pack is installed on your system. Then, after a user changes their password, the count restarts again for that user from the date the password was reset. Also, if a user's password is reset from the Reset User Password menu, the count restarts from the date the user resets their password.
  
  
• System Log (File Maintenance Menu, Look-Up Functions) - On the Opening of Billing Period System Log screen, the dates have been changed from Julian dates to string dates.
  
  
• System Log (File Maintenance Menu, Look-Up Functions) - *New Functionality* The following additions have been made so you can track changes to Edit Doctor Schedules: Add time to a Schedule, Block time from a Schedule, Delete time from a Schedule, Apply a template to a Schedule and Unblock time from a Schedule.

• On all tables, when you click the magnifying glass to search the table, the search function is no longer case-sensitive. You can type the search in lowercase, uppercase, or a combination of both and find all table entries that match, regardless of case.
  
  
• Maintain Insurance Denial Codes (Insurance Denial Code Table) - The Equivalent Code field name has been changed to Practice Denial Code since the drop-down list contains the practice denial codes to tie to the insurance denial codes.
  
  
• Load the AMA CPT Codes (Procedure Code Table) - *New Functionality* - The 2011 CPT codes are available for loading onto your system if you have purchased them from the AMA through CompuGroup. If you would like to purchase the code sets, contact customer service.
  
  
• Load the AMA ICD-9-CM Codes (Diagnosis Code Table) - *New Functionality* - The 2011 ICD-9-CM codes are available for loading onto your system if you have purchased them from the AMA through CompuGroup. If you would like to purchase the code sets, contact customer service.

• Create a Batch (Transaction Batch Control) - *New Functionality* The Defaults, Fixed and Required Fields icon (paper with red check mark) has been added to the lower right corner of the screen.
  
  
• Edit a Transaction - You can now edit the Billing Group on a charge after the billing period has been closed. This does not update the Billing Group on the payments and adjustments applied to that charge (this will be a future enhancement), but the reports by Billing Group will look at the charge that the payment or adjustment is applied to and take the Billing Group from there. You must still Reset Statistical Files and rerun your monthly reports.
  
  
• Payment Entry Function - *New Functionality* A Tertiary Payment option has been added so you can indicate when a payment should be considered as tertiary.
  
  
• Procedure Entry Function - *New Functionality* You can now reorder procedure line items by clicking the drop-down field in the # column and selecting the number that you want the procedure to be ordered in. You can also delete procedure line items by clicking the X icon to the left of the # field.
  
  
• Procedure Journal (Transaction Journals) - It was possible for this journal to include more codes than what was selected. This has been resolved.
  
  
• Procedure Journal - The Print from List drop-down list box was not displaying the saved lists. This has been resolved.
  
  
• Superbill Register (Transaction Journals) - Formatting enhancements were made to this register when printed with the Summary Only check box selected.
  
  
• Unposted Procedures - If there were multiple charges for a patient and there was a co-payment tied to the first charge, the remaining charges were not being tied to the batch or tied to the accounting date on the batch. This has been resolved.
  
  
• Unposted Procedures - When you click the New Patient Action Column function, if the new patient has the Rel to Guarantor field set as Same (0), then the correct birth date populates in the Date of Birth column. See the Patient section of these release notes for additional information.

• NetMobile - *NetMobile Clients Only* -
  
  • You must now provide at least the patient's Last Name, Social Security Number or Date of Birth when looking up a patient. A message displays if you do not enter information in at least one of those fields. This will prevent timeouts from occurring and aid in quicker and more efficient searches.
    
    
  • After you enter charges on an encounter and cancel out from the patient's encounter tab, the screen returns to the hospital list instead of the main menu.
    
    
  • *New Functionality* You can now select to default the last diagnosis code used for a patient by selecting the Default Last DX option on the Preferences screen. If this option is selected for the User, the last diagnosis codes used will default when adding an encounter for a patient. If charges have never been entered into NetMobile for a patient, then the first time an encounter is accessed it will default the diagnosis codes last posted in NetPracticePM. After that, it will default the diagnosis codes from the previous encounter.

• Print Insurance Forms (Insurance Billing Functions) - *Clients Using HCFA Alignment Wizard Program Only* - Since the HCFA Alignment Wizard Program generates HTML data, it cannot be Output to Disk or printed to legacy printers. You can print HCFA's by using Windows printers, Print Here and MyReports.

• Case Management (Change Patient Data) - To ensure correct insurance billing on cases, you must follow these guidelines:
  • Any insurance carrier to be billed for a case only (not the patients normal health insurance) should have the Special Billing check box selected on the patients Insurance Policy Information screen for that carrier. On the Insurance Policy Information summary screen, these carriers will have a check mark next to them in the Spec Bill field.
    
    
  • In the Insurance Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary fields on the Case Management screen, select the carriers as follows:
    • You should never select a normal carrier from the account as an insurance on a case.
      
    • All three fields must be complete unless you want to bill the patients normal carriers for the case. If you are billing the patients normal health insurance carriers, then leave all three fields blank and the case will be billed to the normal carriers in the order that they are stored on the patients account.
      
    • If there are normal health insurance carriers on the account but you are not billing any carriers for the case, then you must select the No Insurance (0) option in all three fields. If you do not, then the normal insurances on the account will be billed.
      
    • Again, unless you are billing the patients normal health insurance carriers only, all three fields must be complete. Select the Special Billing carrier (as indicated with an asterisk *) in the Primary field and then if there is no Secondary or Tertiary carrier to bill, then you must select the No Insurance (0) option in those fields. If you do not select the No Insurance (0) option, then a claim will file to the primary carrier on the case and then a claim would be generated to the normal secondary carrier on the account.
      
    • Now, if you wanted to bill the primary insurance on the case and then the primary insurance on the account, you could do one of two things.
      • Manually bill the normal primary on the account. On the case, select the special billing carrier in the Primary field and No Insurance (0) in the Secondary and Tertiary fields. Then, after the case carrier paid, you would have to manually file the claim to the normal primary carrier on the account.
        
      • If you do not want to worry about billing the normal primary carrier manually, you would set up the normal primary carrier on the account twice and mark one of them as Secondary and Special Billing. Then on the case you would put the case special billing carrier in the Primary field and the normal health insurance carrier that you have marked as special billing in the Secondary field.

• Procedure Entry Function You can type a CPT code into any Proc field and then press Alt+S and the rest of the line item data will automatically fill in and the charges will save and be posted. This saves time and key/mouse clicks as you do not have to tab through the line item and then click Save.

• NetPay Clients Only - If you edit a Location Code or add a new Location Code, you must inform CompuGroup customer service so the new or edited location information can be updated with mPay Gateway to ensure that all transactions will be properly processed for that location.