Summary
Patient Comments and Alerts are notes on the patient that can be triggered to open in a pop-up window or exist in the background as a record. These can be configured to appear in response to specific actions. For instance, alerts can be set to display when opening a ledger, when opening the treatment card, or when a patient checks in or out. A prompt display can be configured to require acknowledgment by the user looking at it and can include a picture icon. These can be useful for creating warnings such as to patient allergies or notice that patient has a balance past due. This can be a very useful tool for your office. This article will walk you through how to set up an employee to create, view, edit, and delete these comments and alerts as well as how to create a new patient comment or alert in the patient menu. It will also detail how to add a custom icon to a patient comment or alert type.
Note: You must have the correct permissions to add, edit, delete or view any patient comment.
How do I grant my employees comment/alert Permissions?
Step 1 - Go to Edit > Setup > Employees > Login/Permissions.
Step 2 - There are four permission type categories that will be specifically required, all starting with PCT (Patient Comment Type):
- PCT Add - This allows an employee to add a comment of the relevant type.
- PCT Edit - This allows an employee to make edits to a comment of the relevant type.
- PCT Delete - This allows an employee to delete a comment of the relevant type.
- PCT View - This allows an employee to view a comment of the relevant type.
Each of these permission types will have subcategories - one for each type of patient comment. You can customize these comment types in Edit > Setup > Patient Comment Types, but here are some examples of a few default comment settings within Cloud 9.
- Ledger comment: Displays in the patient's ledger as its own line.
- Treatment Card comment: Displays in the treatment card as an icon that will display the comment when hovered over. You can assign a custom icon, or the default icon - a red circle with a white exclamation point - will be used.
- Check Out comment: Will display to staff when a patient is in Ready to Checkout, before dismissing. There will be a red "Alert" icon displayed in the upper right of the screen - clicking on this will pop up the comment.
- Check In comment: Check in comments will display when patients check in from the Patient Check In screen (see: Patient Check-In Screen). Depending on how your office is set up, these comments may be visible to the patient.
- Scheduling comment: Displays in the schedule after clicking on the patient's appointment, under the patient picture, name, appointment type, and patient's age.
Step 3 - Apply the permissions you wish to each employee who should have them. You can set these up per individual employee or through employee types if you wish (Setting New Employee Permissions Up By Employee Type).
How do I add in a new Patient Comment Type?
Step 1 - Go to Edit > Setup.
Step 2 - Select Patient Comment Types.
Step 3 - Select the blue +Add to add a new Comment, or if you wish to edit an already existing Comment, then select the white Edit icon.
Step 4 - In the box that says 'Description', write what kind of comment you want this to be - examples are things like Medical Alert or Vendor Comment. Click to check mark the boxes on the areas you would like the comment to show and finally select the green Save button.
How do I add a custom Icon to Patient Comments/Alerts?
Step 1 - Go to Edit > Setup > Patient Comment Icons and select the blue +Add button
Step 2 - On the Description line, indicate the shape or kind of icon you are using - such as Medical Alert, Finances Owed, etc. Select a location or multiple locations that you want this icon to appear for, and then click the blue button at the bottom of the window labeled "Select Icon File". This will launch a browser window on your computer so you can upload an image file. When your image has uploaded, hit the green "Save" button.
Step 3 - When creating or editing a new patient's comment/alert, select the Icon dropdown menu - this will now display the default and any custom icons you have uploaded. Pick your desired icon for your comment and finish making any necessary changes to your comment, then save it.
Now that custom Icon will display wherever your comment shows up and displays icons (schedule, treatment card, etc.).
How do I add a Patient Comment/Alert to the patient?
Step 1 - On the patient's account drop the arrow and select Patient Comments/Alerts
Step 2 - Click Add,
Step 3 - Enter the information and click Add.
As always, if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Cloud 9 Support by emailing us at cloud9support@planetdds.com, or chatting us online using the chat bubble on the lower right at https://cloud9support.planetdds.com/hc/en-us, or giving us a call during our business hours of 8:00 AM EST to 8:00 PM EST at the 1.800.394.6050 option 2.