Partner Checkin Screens Reference

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You can check patients in using PCC EHR’s Patient Check-In.

However, if you use the Partner checkin program, you can use the screen reference below to understand the different features that appear on each checkin step.

Partner Checkin Reference Notes

As you check in a patient, you can press Page Up or Page Down or F1 to cycle through each screen in checkin.

Patient Selection: The first screen you will see when you run checkin is the Appointment List. To learn more about the patient selection screen in Partner, read Appointment Lists.

Quitting checkin: You can press F12 to quit checkin at any time. You can also complete the checkin process by pressing F1 to the final screen.

The Demographics Screen in Partner Checkin

The first screen in checkin shows demographic information and allows you to jump into other basic Partner programs. This screen is a great benefit to anyone using Partner, especially if they are at the front desk, answer phones, or need to use several different Partner programs with a patient at once.

Read and Update the Demographics Screen

The Demographics screen shows the patient’s name, age, primary care provider, sex, and status line as well as four customizable patient fields.

The Demographics screen shows the patient’s name, age, primary care provider, sex, and status line as well as four customizable patient fields. The screen also includes the status line, address, phone, and email  for any family account(s) associated with the patient.

Status Lines: Status lines contain status flags that you can assign to patients or accounts. In the example above, Pebbles Flintstone has the status of “Medicaid” and “Needs Extra Time,” and his guarantor (Fred Flintstone) has the status of “Budget.” To see the list of statuses on your system, enter an asterisk (*) in any Status field. PCC can teach you how to create new status flags that will help your office identify certain patients or accounts.

Use the Enter and Backspace keys to move among the fields and make changes. Press End to erase the text after the cursor. In some fields, you can use an asterisk (*) to get a list of possible choices.

For example, if you learned that Pebbles Flintstone is really the patient of Dr. Crusher, you could press Enter until your cursor was in the Physician field, press End to erase Dr. McCoy’s name, and then enter a “C” for Crusher.

Get an Updated Encounter Form: After changing important information about a patient, press F7 – Reprint Enc Form so the encounter form for the visit has the most up-to-date information. You may want to confirm insurance information on step two of checkin first.

One or Two Families?: If your patient has only one family serving as both the guarantor and custodian, you will see only one family listed on this page. If the patient has one account as a custodian but a different account as a guarantor, you will see both accounts at the bottom of the screen. A two-account patient would look like this:

Function Keys on the Demographics Screen

From this screen, you can jump into the patient or family editors (notjane, fame), assign the patient a new guarantor or custodian, or reprint the encounter form. You can also run many basic Partner programs, including scheduling, charge posting, and billing programs. Whatever task you jump into, you can always return to this screen by pressing F12. Read the function key descriptions below to learn more.

Billing Function Key Set

Press F8 – Billing FKey Set to view the alternative billing function keys.

The checkin program is a great for a biller who needs to hop among programs such as oops, pip, and checkout while still viewing important demographic information.

The new function keys that will appear look like this:

The Additional Demographics Screen in Partner Checkin

The second screen in checkin shows extra demographic information and allows you to jump into other basic Partner programs.

Read and Update Additional Demographics

In addition to Name, date of birth, primary care physician, sex, and status, the screen includes race and ethnicity, preferred language, and confidential contact preferences.

Use the Enter and Backspace keys to move among the fields and make changes. Press End to erase the text after the cursor.

In some fields, you can use an asterisk (*) to get a list of possible choices.

You may only select a single Confidential Communication Preference. Once selected, fields particular for that selection will appear.

For example, if the patient has a private address distinct from their parents, you can select Mailing Address and enter that new address.

Why Track This Information?: Race and ethnicity, language, and confidential communication preferences help your practice in several ways.

• You can use the communication preferences to work directly with patients on confidential issues or on the maintenance of medical concerns that are their own responsibility.
• You can use any of these fields on form letters.
• You can limit some SRS reports by these fields.
• You can use the Patient Recaller (recaller) to calculate patient population numbers, generate patient lists, or generate mailings for a certain demographic based on a set of criteria.
• These fields are related to both PCMH and the EHR Medicaid Incentive Program.

Ethnicity, Race, and Language Lists: The Ethnicity, Race, and Language fields are limited to national standards. You may enter more than one race by using a comma between entries.

Configuration Options: These fields appear in both the Patient Editor (notjane) and Patient Checkin (checkin). You can use the Configuration Editor (ced) to hide the Confidential Communication Preferences from checkin if your office does not collect this information and the fields distract from your checkin workflow.

Function Keys on the Additional Demographics Screen

From this screen, you can jump into the Edit Policies (policy) program, the patient’s immunization record (imms), the Patient History program (patinfo) and the list of patient form letters. Whatever task you jump into, you can always return to this screen by pressing F12. Read the function key descriptions below to learn more.

 

The Insurance Screen in Partner Checkin

The Insurance step in Partner’s checkin program shows you a list of all insurance policies associated with the patient. You can review a patient’s active and expired policies. You can edit, add, move, delete, or expire any policy.

Insurance Policy Manual: For a complete guide to the insurance policy screen in Partner, read Manage Insurance Policies.

At the top of the screen is a list of all insurance policies for this patient. The list shows the copay, company name, and certificate and group numbers. Complete details about the selected policy are shown at the bottom of the screen.

Use the arrow keys to select a policy on the screen. Once you have selected a policy, full details appear at the bottom of the screen. You can then use the function keys to make changes to the selected policy or insert a new policy above it.

If a family has a long history of changing policies, you can use F2 – Scroll Backward and F3 – Scroll Forward to view the rest of the policies.

The Patient Eligibility Screen in Partner Checkin

You can use the Eligibility page in checkin to review and check eligibility for each of a patient’s active insurance policies.

You can review and edit eligibility status and enter notes about eligibility for the appointment, review the Partner-summarized eligibility report (if available), or send a new request for information to the insurance carrier (if they participate in real-time automated eligibility).

Review and Update Patient Eligibility

The eligibility step in checkin looks like this:

The top of the screen shows patient and policy information, the middle shows fields for entering status, date, and notes, and the bottom of the screen shows Partner’s summary of information sent by the insurance carrier. The date of the most recent eligibility request, along with Active/Inactive status, appears in red.

After reviewing the eligibility information on the screen or using function keys to gather more information, you may update the status, date, or notes and press F1 or Page Down to continue to the next step.

Update the Information: You can request a new eligibility report by selecting the active plan and pressing F6 – Request Elig. Partner will also automatically request a new eligibility report whenever a patient’s key demographic information or insurance information changes.

If a patient has more than one active policy, you can press F8 – Next Policy to move down the list.

Function Keys on the Patient Eligibility Screen

The Copay and Balance Screen in Partner Checkin

The Copay and Balance screen shows the expected copay, an aging summary of outstanding balances, and any available eligibility information for the patient. Function keys provide access to additional information and a tool for posting a copay payment.

Read the Copay and Balance Screen

The fourth step of checkin looks like this:

The guarantor account name and PCC number appear at the top of the screen. The guarantor for the account is usually a parent, but could also be an organization or the patient herself. The account shown is responsible for the patient’s bills; if you need to change the Guarantor account, press Page Down to return to the first page of checkin (Demographics) and press F4 – Reassign Account. See the Demographics screen article for more information.

In the main viewing window of the Copay and Balance screen, Partner shows:

• Copay Amount: This is the expected copay for the patient’s primary insurance policy. It may be a new insurance policy, or it may expire tomorrow, but the amount is the patient’s current copay. Some insurance companies have special copay rules for sick and well visits; the copay listed is the default copay for the patient’s primary insurance plan.

• Policy: The insurance policy from which the copay information is drawn.

• Copay Note: The guarantor account’s Copay Note, stored in the Family Editor (fame). This note will only be shown if the insurance policy in question requires a copay.

• Aging Balance Totals: Underneath the copay is a brief aging balance summary for the account. You can see outstanding balance amounts that are Personal (to the account holder), pending one or more insurance companies, or pending your default Medicaid company. The balances are aged into 30-day categories. Amounts are aged by payor responsibility, which means that old balances that just recently became personal will be under the 0-29 day column in the Personal line.

Function Keys on the Balance and Copay Screen