Release Notes: 24th July 2019

Release Notes: July 2019

The product update released July 2019, includes new features and enhancements to existing features. Two new payment methods are available to the Ledger, providers now have the ability to pause and later resume clinical notes entered using templates, and a new Power Report has been added for payment and adjustment tags.

Clinical

Pause and Resume functionality added to Clinical Note Templates

The pause functionality allows a provider to start filling in a clinical note template, accommodate a workflow interruption, and then return to it later. There is no time limit for completing the note; a paused note just remains in an incomplete state until it is completed. To pause entry, a Save Progress button has been added to quick pick templates.

Several things happen when you leave off entering a clinical note. First, you will see a flash message reminder that the note is incomplete.

A reminder shows up in the Progress Notes. The note icon will have a red dot, indicating the clinical note is incomplete. Click the icon to open the note and continue where you left off.

Incomplete notes show as “In Progress” in the Clinical Notes menu. Click the note to open the template and complete your entry.

The Incomplete Clinical Notes widget has again been renamed, to Clinical Note Tasks. In addition showing a count of unsigned and not entered notes for today and for the last 30 days—a correction to the previous release—it also shows counts for clinical notes in progress.

 

As before, clicking the widget opens a page. The updated Clinical Note Tasks page has tabs for Unsigned, Not Entered and In Progress notes (or all, combined). For notes in progress, click a patient name and then the Resume button at the bottom of the page to open the clinical note and continue.

Billing

New Payment Methods

Two new payments methods named “Patient Financing” and “Electronic Transfer” have been added to the Ledger’s current list. “Patient Financing” should be considered a generic description that could for example represent payments from CreditCare.

Like all transaction types, tagging rules may be applied to these payment methods in the Ledger Options page.

The new payment methods are included as line items in all areas of Ascend where payment information is presented, for example the Payment Analysis report, the Day Sheet, the Deposit List report, Billing Statements, Provider A/R Totals, and the Audit log. 

Power Reporting

New Payment and Adjustment Tag Report

A new power report named Payment Tags has been added to the suite. The default structure of the report focuses on guarantor and insurance payments made in the previous month, but like other interactive reports can be modified by editing, adding or removing data fields and filters.

When tag restriction rules are in place, mandatory tags are Primary Tags. Where tag restriction rules are turned off, the first tag added is the Primary tag. All additional or optional tags are Secondary Tags. When there are multiple secondary tags, they are all included as comma-separated values within one table cell. Just like all power reports, if the user did not include a tag when posting the transaction, the tag field is empty and the name is “Not Available: spaces etc.”

The Subcategory field includes all the transaction types in the Ledger Options page, so you can easily modify this report spotlight a particular transaction type and tag name.

Patient Communication

Social Media Links Added to Patient Communications

A Practice Profile button just added to the Patient Communications page opens a window where you can change the practice banner color, select a logo, and add your links to popular social media sites.

In conjunction with this change, the Web Profile page under the Location Settings menu has been removed.