ChiroPulse365 Chiropractic Software Blog

Related Articles:

• Using Netbook Computers Wirelessly with ChiroPulse365

Requirements for Wireless Use of ChiroPulse365:

• Wireless-N Mini Card (self installed w/ screwdriver, ~ $50)
  click here to see several samples at Amazon.com in a new window/tab
• Wireless-N Router or wireless Bridge/Access Point
  click here to see several samples of Bridges (to use with your existing router) at amazon.com in a new window/tab
• Windows 7 (any version)
• Windows XP (any version) SP2 or SP3
• Windows Vista (any version) SP1 or SP2

Wi-fi wireless roaming between treatment and other rooms
As people can wirelessly use their phones & view the web or fetch email, it is a nice goal to be able to wireless access your ChiroPulse data from anywhere in your office. We have tested and used wi-fi going back to Winter 2005 when we launched ChiroPulse Advanced v4 (replace by ChiroPulse365) using D-link 104mpbs and early Pre-N wifi setups.

Wi-fi using Wireless-N is a great tool for network PCs (ie. for the doctor) but does have a few areas of concern that you need to be aware of & work around by following these strict guidelines:

1. Reliability. Wired networks are 100% reliable & require no configuration. Wireless networks are less reliable obviously and are subject to interference, lost signals, poor reception and/or improper setup. Wireless is great for notes, scheduling & looking up patient data (i.e. used by the doctor). Wireless is not to be used for running invoices, reports or data-intensive tasks that take time to complete.
2. Security. Wireless networks WPA2 encryption are completely safe as its security has not been breached. Unsecure wireless or wifi using basic WEP encryption is easily breached. You must run WPA2 level encryption or better on your wireless router and all cards. This is business-level security that matches wired networking.
3. Ease of Setup & Maintenance – wi-fi networks require a new Wireless-N router (or you can simply piggyback a wireless-N access point) in addition to Wireless-N wifi cards for laptop computers. Wifi requires setting up WPA2 security, creating keys/passwords and doing the initial connection & permissions. Installing a wireless-N wi-fi card cards takes a screwdriver, popping out the old card, disconnecting the small wired antenna & inserting the new card. It is a quick & pretty easy do-it-yourself swap though. Some laptops (not netbooks) have express PC Cards which allow you to insert the new network card in the side like a large credit card that protrudes a little bit. We recommend the internal mini-PCI card since it takes up no space and is done once and never touched again.
4. Wireless-N 802.11N standard only – this is the latest, most robust & secure wifi standard above Wireless-G. Wireless-N is required and must be running at full bandwidth on all devices (notebook/netbooks & router/wifi-access point). Wireless-G and most internal wifi cards that come with less expensive computers are insufficient in regard to speed and security. Thankfully these Wireless-G cards can be easily replaced/upgraded by the user to Wireless-N. Note that the ChiroPulse hardware requirements apply to the Tablet PC also (XGA screen, 1GB ram, etc).
5. Never use wireless wi-fi to connect two desktop PCs. That is silly, costly and a waste of time and energy. Use wireless to connect a Notebook/Tablet/Netbook laptop to your wired network. You can mix wired PCs with a wireless notebook or two.

Team Pulse Computer wifi, wireless

A ChiroPulse365 refresh is available now (or shortly) offering significantly bolstered performance with Windows7 and Vista (32-bit and 64-bit). Please check for updates in our Secure Member Center!

Happy Holidays! Team Pulse

Team Pulse Uncategorized Vista, Windows 7

This highly requested feature is now now ready for your office! (database level 5.11+)

From the patient’s Careplan you can select a careplan entry – for example “3 times weekly starting 11/1/2009 through 11/15/2009” – and quickly schedule multiple appointments for a patient directly to scheduler, while picking the preferred time/dates. This feature is useful for all practice types, from cash-only to personal injury since it allows rapid appointment entry & the quick printing of these appointments for the patient. It nicely integrates the clinical Careplans with the clerical Scheduler & visit posting.

You can block schedule the following Careplan entries: Daily, Daily AM/PM, Weekly. Other intervals can more easily be cloned. Click the careplan entry (ie. 10/01 Weekly entry selected below) then click the “Block Schedule” link to see the block schedule careplan overlay.

block schedule directly using careplan entries!

From the careplan you can see the “block scheduled” appointments and mass-delete them (all except kept appointments) if something has changed! You can also see which careplan entries were block scheduled or are eligible for block-scheduling.

careplan printout for the patient

Shown above is the improved careplan report that now features a list of future appointments for the patient. This can be printed directly from the Careplan editor or Scheduler to reinforce the care your patient will be receiving.

Team Pulse New Features appointment, careplan, preschedule

For each insurer, you can set fee schedules which define the dollar amount the insurer has agreed to pay a specific doctor for a specific CPT.  i.e. the contracted rate fee schedule.

The allowed amount is the insurer’s contracted rate (for the doctor who performs the service). The difference between the contracted rate & your standard CPT fee is automated as a non-collectible payment entry in the ledger.

For example if a charge for a CPT is $75 & the fee schedule allowed amount is $50 when adding visits a $25 non-collectible payment will be posted to ledger automatically along with the visit/charges.

After you setup the allowed amount fee schedules for all codes for an insurer, select the fee schedule to be used for each doctor in your office for this insurer.

Up to three (3) fee schedules can be stored for each CPT. This allows doctors to have different scheduled fees. For example a DC might have one schedule, a therapist another & other doctor or therapist yet another if necessary. For simplicity start with schedule A & leave the others blank if not needed.

It is important to remember that most states legally require you to charge the same amount for services regardless of reimbursement method.  So the patient with or without insurance should be charged the same cost for a given CPT/service. You can use ledger entries to “write-off” or “contractual reduced rate” to reconcile the discounted rate given to insurers or patients from this standard service/cpt dollar amount.

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The “Fee Schedule in ChiroPulse365 totally automates contracted rates since the “non-collectible contracted rate” ledger items are added when posting charges/services.  In addition, the patient invoice clearly shows that the services were paid at a discounted rate to allow for better patient relations. For example, a patient would typically be less reluctant to complain about a co-payment or balance due when they see your rates & reimbursement was significantly reduced by their insurer.

Team Pulse Tips & Hints charges, contracted rates, cpt, fee schedule

The Scheduler is your computerized daybook that integrates with ledger and patient data. It is customizable, including the setting hours, breaks and appointments per time slot for each day, for each doctor. The Scheduler was specifically designed to allow the vast majority of daily functions to be performed from this single screen (i.e., scheduling, posting charges, patient payment/co-payment, walkout receipt, access to patient careplan/travel card, etc.).

The Scheduler is also integrated with the Patient Claim Wizard & Ledger. You can set your default appointment information for each patient, for each “claim”, in the Claim Wizard. This includes default charges, times, etc. Typical appointment information that can be collected in the scheduler includes treatment codes (CPT, Multi & User codes) and treating doctors. This can streamline data entry, saving time & reducing errors. The scheduled charges/services (CPT, Multi & User codes) will be posted to the Patient’s Ledger when you set the visit status to kept (from waiting or treating). From the ChiroPulse start page “MyOffice” click the top icon bar “View scheduler” to launch the scheduler window. The scheduler is self-contained in an independent window to allow for quick return to office & patient tasks not scheduler related.

Scheduler  Overview ~ what each button & clickable item does:   Read more…

Team Pulse Scheduler, Tips & Hints Scheduler

Clone shortcuts added to scheduler to save clicks & speed your your front desk! After pressing “Clone selected appointment” a  new Clone pop-up menu appears to allow you to directly clone with less window jumping!

New Clone Button Menu for easier cloning direct from scheduler.

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Reschedule improvements for quicker, easier reschedules, including for same-day. New menu items are added (top pulldown or right-click popup) to “Reschedule for this day (CTRL-R hotkey)” which makes for easier rescheduling an appointment for the same day… 3 clicks. In addition a Reschedule submenu now appears on scheduler (top & right-click) to reschedule for days of the week or next week plus a mode to quickly choose a reschedule time/day/slot. Remember when “rescheduling” and appointment a new slot is inserted since the rescheduled slot is now available.

New Reschedule menu addition to quickly reschedule from scheduler window.

Ledger instant refund is quick & easy.

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Billing Wizard “Bill Many Patients” & “Patient Statements” wizard modes now have the ability to filter out & exclude any patient statements (not HCFA) with patient balances of $0.00 or patients with credit.

Bill Many new filter to exclude $0.00 balances

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Billing Wizard “Bill all unpaid balances” & “Reinvoice unpaid invoices” now have several more more filters:

• “Do not include Unprocessed” option – this is very useful for offices that do not want to generate patient invoices until the insurance invoice is submitted first. Using this option charges with statuses with “invoiced primary” will be included but new visits yet processed to the insurer or via electronic claims will not.
• Selection box to further limit printouts by patient class, billing class, invoice class & most other options from “Bill Many”

More filters for "bill all unpaid patient balances" & "reinvoice unpaid". Do not include "unprocessed" is very useful for those wanting to always invoice insurers first.

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Task Manager item for “Patients with Credit” to quickly find all patients with credit in your office. You can double-click into Ledger directly from Task Manager.

Task Manager patient entry to find patients with credits

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Other additions/changes:

• NYWC “Doctor Name” in C4.0 box C.1 & C4.2 B1 now reads “Last, First, initial” instead of “First Last”.
• NYWC when printing the C4 invoice directly from the NYWC window the appropriate invoice is preselected in step-3 in Billing Wizard.

Team Pulse Refresh instant refund, invoice wizard, Refresh

To better service your office, Pulse Software is a Dell Registered Partner. This means any Dell item we sell, drop ship, resell or procure for you maintains it’s complete original FACTORY DELL warranty! Unless you are a Dell Certified or Registered Partner their factory warranties are not really transferable (unless declared as a gift, using complicated forms & reliance on vendor followup). The bottom line is that unnecessary risk is avoided when buying through Pulse Software.

There is no need for Dell resellers to inventory/stock Dell computers. Here are three main reasons: #1 Dell sells their equipment to Vendors/Resellers at about the same price as they do to customers direct on the dell.com website. Some large box store like Best Buy use Dell to lure customers into their store to look & see… and hopefully purchase a movie, DVD, software or accessory.  #2 Dell changes PCs, configurations & prices almost daily. We would never want to be selling out-dated computers we’re stuck with. #3. Dell ships direct to customer, very quickly if not immediately. Direct shipping means lowered costs to you.

We can service your office when looking for new computers &  save you money.     Read more…

Team Pulse Computer Computer, Dell deals, laptop, netbook

It’s nice to see the government and other vendors now validate patient documentation that Pulse Software has been allowing and recommending for your office since 1996 with the launch of ChiroPulse . It is no surprise that patient record keeping will one day be  certified, standardized & possibly mandated.

Unfortunately many vendors today are using fear, uncertainty & scare tactics on our fellow Chiropractors. As if doctors don’t face enough obstacles to patient care they now need to fend off bully tactics from unscrupulous software vendors. The vendors often leave out facts & specifics, for example that the HITECH stimulus relates only to Medicare/Medicaid and would begin perhaps in 2011 at the earliest, no time soon.

You’re reading the emails, promotion & print ads that sound so great you almost want to believe them. They read like the email from your “long lost relative who left you millions” that you can collect once you “send your bank account info, social security info & all of your personal data”, plus a “small $10,000 payment to cover legal fees to gain your inheritance”. Here is a sample …

“Stimulus Plan rewards over $40,000 to doctors using EMR software!”

“Start reaping the benefits of the Economic Stimulus Plan now!”

“Money Flying”

“Implement now once the $19.2 billion in stimulus dollars is paid out, there will be no more!”

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Facts about EMR Electronic Medical Records / EHR Electronic Health Records   Read more…

Team Pulse Uncategorized EHR, Electronic Health Records, HITECH, Stimulus Plan

This blog entry is intended to make you think about how much paper you generate in ChiroPulse365.

When talking to chiropractic offices it really amazes us how often the staff prints things from ChiroPulse that is really doesn’t need to be.  Print today’s schedule, print the HCFA that you sent electronically, print a patient invoice you sent, print a SOAP, etc.  Sure some things need printing (I.e. a patient walkout receipt they ask for) but much of what the average office prints is stuffed into a patient folders to take up space & quite often do nothing but collect dust.

ChiroPulse365 has a full “what you see is what you get” print preview. It can export to many computer electronic file formats and multi-page PDF portable document file. We’d like to urge your office to really start to consider the actual need of a paper printout before sending the preview to the printer.

While each of your offices has unique needs & requirements, we have a vested interest to have your patient data instantly retrievable, organized & reproducible for medical, legal & accounting purposes.  Read more…

Team Pulse Tips & Hints paperless, print

Electronic Claims Vendors

ChiroPulse can work with almost any clearinghouse that supports industry standard formats. Listed below are a few vendors that have great customer feedback and have been compatible with ChiroPulse for years. Each clearinghouse has various options, pricing and value added services which should be considered against strictly the advertised “price”. The ability to get you quickly up and running, with correct EDI output for peculiar settings required by local insurers is important too!

MDOn-Line
www.mdon-line.com
6 Campus Drive, Parsippany, NJ 07054
Toll Free: 888-499-5465 ext 165
Fax: 973-734-9910
www.mdon-line.com

MD On-Line provides a suite of electronic tools and services for claims transactions. Products work in conjunction with ChiroPulse software.  Toll free Technical and Customer Support are provided to all customers. Pricing is extremely competitive
and discounts are offered to members of the American Chiropractic Association. Call or contact them via the web to learn more.

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Electronic Claims Output from ChiroPulse

Plain Text (“HCFA-1500 Print Image”) EDI Text file to submit to any ECS service accepting standard “HCFA-1500 Print Images” for submission.

ANSI-837 Direct to submit ANSI formatted files direct to carriers. This is especially useful for those with “pay per use” clearinghouses that charge per carrier. You can submit ANSI direct to a certain carrier that allows it to keep costs down.

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Other Clearinghouses With Good Feedback

EClaims, Inc.
www.eclaims.com
888-576-0800
9393 Second Avenue, Kearney, NE 68847
Fax: 909-869-1047

Team Pulse Uncategorized Clearinghouse, ECS, EDI, electronic claims

Data Backup with ChiroServer Tools & Removable Media

Nightly Backup: At the end of day use ChiroServer Tools to backup your ChiroPulse (ChiropulseDBmaster) database. This is located on your Server or stand-alone PC. A multi-step redundant backup will protect your office against every type of possible data loss (i.e. hard-drive failure, sabatoge, flood, fire, theft, etc.) while providing for a hassle-free restoration using open technology standards. A backup is no good if the “backup” is unreadable or unavailable. The best backup solution is a removable USB device (as your “safe place” – more below) with secondary system backup to an internal hard drive, network backup drive or internet backup solution (one you’ve actually tested the ability to quickly restore). This allows redundant backup that is off-site.  The goal is to have your ChiroPulse database in one place that can be restored (on a new or fixed PC) in minutes!

What do I Backup To? Nowadays it’s best to backup to USB flash drive, not disc/CD. USB flash drives are faster, more reliable and offer less chance of failure (plus they’re green & not a total waste of plastic/landfill space). Any USB flash drive will work, 4GB more more is sensible and they’re priced under $25.  What is nice is that any PC can read a USB card and our “copy to safe place” uses industry standard ZIP format so your backup is instantly readable without installing any software, utilities, etc. USB flash cards should be replaced yearly and it’s probably best to rotate two (2) USB cards using a different one on alternate days. An ounce of prevention is worth what… probably 10 pounds of cure. This is your PATIENT DATA so protect it carefully.   Read more…

Team Pulse Tips & Hints backup, database, live mesh, live sync, microsoft sql server, online backup, restore, synchronize, usb drive, ZIP

ChiroPulse365 now has Limited N.Y. Worker’s Comp C-4 Initial Report & C-4.2 Progress Report capability! This is featured in refresh 365.1.676 from April 8, 2009 or higher.  We will be improving C-4 support in the near future and allow non-NYWC users to utilize some of the tests & exams that will be tracked!

Prints on plain white paper to eliminates hassle!

Read more...

Team Pulse Tips & Hints NY Worker's Comp

For an introduction & overview of the Point & Click Soap Wizard click here.

We have spoken to countless Chiropractors from clinics all over North America. One  recurring theme is that daily Soap Notes are a hassle. Some offices even store them in paper files. Ugh. Another theme – which is unspoken & not quite as universally accepted – is that Daily Soaps are not absolutely useful (when treating a few times weekly) but instead a necessary evil mandated by 3rd party payers. The theory goes that  insurers know the extra hassle of creating accurate, useful daily patient notes will slow reimbursement. Good thing for ChiroPulse365 or we’d have to consider calling in Scully & Mulder from retirement. 

Luckily we can put all of that to rest because accurate daily patient notes are very simple to create in ChiroPulse365. Our clinical Team believes, as you do, that Daily Soap Notes benefit the patient, the doctor and your Chiropractic office.

Lets recap the four components of a Daily Soap Note:

• Subjective portion is simply the patient explaining their chief complaints
• Objective portion is the doctor clinically grading the patient (exams & more)
• Assessment lets you, the doctor, quickly & accurately assess each chief complaint
• Plan can be totally automated by using Careplan then making small tweaks as care progresses

Subjective – The Subjective portion is simply the patient’s grading their chief complaints. This allows you to document the patient’s problem(s) as they explain them to you the doctor.

Subjective: Location / Region
For the selected complaint, click on the location(s) and/or region to best explain the patient’s complaint. You can use any of the three boxes to better explain the chief complain as the patient explains it that day. For example the chief complaint of “neck pain” could be “bilateral” (location1) or “upper” (location1) “right” (location2).  The use of locations/regions are strictly optional & are not needed to make sensible notes.

Subjective: Location/Region of the selected complaint

Read more…

Team Pulse Tips & Hints clinical, notes, soap, touchscreen

You might be thinking… did I miss it… what happened to database level 5.08?  No worries, we had several refreshes at database level 5.08 for in-house and on-site testing for our Document Management System (now available)! While our Document system was being tested extensively we made even more changes &  additions so that we were able to jump to  database level 5.09 for public release

Changes in this Refresh:

• Image & Document Management System & Index – ChiroPulse365 now features a fully indexed document file-management system that links any computer file to your patient database. You simply view/find the computer file (document, audio, video, picture, PDF, etc.) then tag it by patient, description, date, & keywords as well as optionally link it to a treating doctor, referring doctor, claim and/or lawyer. This lets you instantly retrieve, view, edit or print the linked file from any computer in your office or network running ChiroPulse365 – including wireless netbooks! For more info, an overview & instructions see our blog entry here: http://chiropulse.com/blog/?p=214
  Image viewer tweaks from pre-release versions (database level 5.08):
  • When launching from CTRL-D from MyOffice (before a patient was selected in Patient Finder), the Document system always recognizes the patient whose files are loaded, otherwise displays a message to “select patient” (CTRL-D from MyOffice)
  • When importing documents, file cleanup is now enabled by default. This moves the file from the temporary location to your PulseSQL/images/200x/xx subfolder. If the file is in use (ie. being read by an external editor/viewer) you will be prompted to close the file then retry. If the file is not closed import will be cancelled to retry later.
  • After importing a file, a placeholder image or text appears so you can visualize that import was successful
  • When tagging, the last used keywords, tags, descriptions, etc. are stored so you can quickly tag similar documents. For example you can now easily add several MRI or x-ray reports from the day or week (that arrived via fax, etc.). Clear button added to wipe clean the tagger window to enter new descriptions, tags, etc.

manage, tag & track files & documents for your patients

• Balance Bill – improved logic & tweaks made when Balance Billing (CTRL-N from Invoice Log) to recreate an ANSI-837 EDI file. This will ensure the subbatch/EDI file is overwritten with the refreshed data.
• Appointment Waiting Notifier – dramatically improved to show the actual patients that are “waiting” names as well as the arrival time which is now recorded when the patient is marked waiting. This will let you see which patients are ready & which ones were on time, late, etc. when deciding who might go next when overlapping appointments.

scheduler waiting notifies you when patients are ready

• Preferred Options – new tab added named “For This PC” which shows all customizations available per individual ChiroPulse365 computer in your office. Most of the Preferred Options are set per office (shared between all users on a network), ChiroPulse365 also allows customization for each actual user’s computer in your office as well!

MyPC tab in Preferred Options to review settings.

• Scheduler – per computer setting choose how co-pays are displayed. You can see the estimated copay dollar value, the * asterisk, or hide copays and see an x instead (to signify they are hidden).

scheduler popup menu choices for setting copay view

• Scheduler Appointment Creation – Prompt which doctor to use when adding an appointment when the selected slot does not match the patient’s default treating doctor. You can quickly select either doctor, without interruption or further slot selection. Soon Global Preferences will be added to allow you customize the prompts & actions.

more prompts when entering patients

• Patient Finder/Tab – ChiroPulse365 now remembers the patient info mode selected (below the claim icon/box) for each computer. For older computers, wireless computers (wireless-N only) or mid-range computers running Windows Vista we recommend using “None” if performance switching between patients is not crisp. Each computer in your office can have it’s own setting.

Patient Finder (CTRL+F to search patient quickly) patient info choices

• Patient Finder/Tab – When new claims are added or deleted (from any of the several ways… claim finder, claim clone, add new patient, claim wizard, etc.) the Patient Finder will always be refreshed to show the actual claims and to select the new or last used claim. This will allow you to always work on the correct claim, without having to “refresh” the page/window.
• Billing Wizard homepage. Buttons enabled for “Bill all unpaid balances” & “Reinvoice unpaid invoices“. Some invoice generation housekeeping was done to allow older/slower computers to handle such large invoicing tasks. For large practices (or with offices who do not “close out” and zero balance with non-collectible or write-offs), these tasks are best done end-of-day or at lunch to allow the computer time to run as the processes can take several minutes.
• TaskManager – correctly launches the Claim Wizard when editing claim data instead of a smaller data window. This is more useful when working with claims.
• ANSII-837 EDI output & customization added per clearinghouse for all insurers. Logic was added to allow future customization for clearinghouses who want non-standard submission for data Loops. Customization field added to Clearinghouse editor where you can input the commands (see link below) and desired text or box removal (for every carrier & claim going to that clearinghouse. Note that similar features were previously made availalbe to customize for individual insurers. This new method allows you to avoid having to edit many PINs & insurance companies to get the correct EDI submission. (ChiroPulse365 @ database level 5.09 or higher).
• Other Scheduler improvements – tweaks & improvements regarding slots & selection
  • You can now “Delete Slot”using right-click popup over the open slot (this will be available when deleting appointments from appt. editor soon!).
  • You can now “Insert Slot” using right-click popup over the open slot
  • New Appointment creation when selecting an existing appointment. Pressing the new appointment button brings up the Patient Finder where you will select the patient them immediately select the slot (or create a new slot). You will then see the appointment editor to save or make any changes to codes, notes, etc.
  • After an appointment is saved you can no longer change the patient assigned to that slot. If you made a mistake simply delete the appointment (and optionally the slot if you want). This eliminates confusion and error when staff changes appointments instead of marking No Show, Cancelled or Rescheduled for those patients. Remember when working with a patient’s appointment you mark kept, cancelled, no-show or when they arrive waiting then treating.
  • When marking an appointment No Show, Cancelled or Rescheduled a replacement slot is inserted (so that the room is available saving time from having to insert a slot)
  • When marking an appointment “rescheduled” there is now better prompts telling what was done (appointment status set as “rescheduled”) and what you need to do next (choose the new time/date for this appointment).
  • “Find future appointments for this patient” added to the right-click popup menu > patient submenu & the top “Open Patients…” menu.

  

Team Pulse New Features, Refresh Refresh

ChiroPulse365 now features a fully indexed document file-management system that links any computer file to your patient database. You simply view/find the computer file (document, audio, video, picture, PDF, etc.) then tag it by patient, description, date, & keywords as well as optionally link it to a treating doctor, referring doctor, claim and/or lawyer. This lets you instantly retrieve, view, edit or print the linked file from any computer in your office or network running ChiroPulse365 – including wireless netbooks!

When working with any patient (for example from  Patient Finder Tab) you will see a list of documents – such as MRI results from 2/2009, blood tests, faxes, word processor files – that were linked to this patient. Thus keeping your patient files totally organized & always at your fingertips!

Here is walk-through for this powerful new feature & tool for your office.

You can use the file viewer to quickly view many types of audio, video & data files directly from ChiroPulse365. In this example you are viewing the PATIENT-DATA folder and the (blurred for privacy) & highlighted PDF file is visible.

The file viewer has two modes or ways to be used. One to Browse & Tag images and the second to View Patient Images (that were already tagged). Use the top button bar to switch between Browse mode & Patient Image mode. In both modes the left panel shows a list of files/documents which can quicky be viewed in the large left space. When a patient is selected in Scheduler or Patient Finder, the document viewer opens to View Patient Images mode so you can quickly see all patient documents.

The picture above shows Browse mode where the left panel has buttons to navigate to a network folder or mapped drive as well as the folder tree view below where you can navigate the selected folder/drive/share.

Don’t let computers confuse you! Think of your computer & it’s data storage area(s) as a large file cabinet. This storage cabinet can have several drawers, which in computer terms are drives. Within each drive (drawers) there can be several folders. Within each folder there are documents (ie. files). A computer document is called a data “file” since it is readable by anyone on the computer. Note that some computer files are programs or hidden as part of Windows. Document files can come in various formats, each identified by a 3 or 4 digit extension. For example .DOC is a word document, whereas .PDF is an acrobat portable document file, whereas .JPG is a graphical image file. All of these are files/documents. Documents can be multiple pages if stored in formats such as Word Processor or better yet Acrobat PDF format. Pictures  are considered one-page documents.

show all file types & external viewer options

Use the folder tree-view and network drive box to first find the folder where the computer file is stored that you want to tag & import. Then simply click the file in the list directly below (blurred for privacy in this example) to immediately view the document. While viewing the file you want to import press the Import Document button. This brings up the Image tagger window so that you can identify the document & link it to a patient, claim, treating doctor & more!

Read more…

Team Pulse New Features document, document management, file, image

Creating clinically valid Soap Notes has never been easier than when using ChiroPulse365. One tool offered is the Point & Click Soap Wizard which allows you to create detailed & specific – yet clinically relevant – Soap Notes. This is touchscreen friendly and can allow the creation of a Soap Note without typing. It is even easier than it appears since once the initial Soap is created, the data collected is quickly viewed & used to start your next note for the patient’s next office visit. This allows continuity & validity of your clinical  documentation for all your patients.

The first thing to do for your patients is setup the Chief Complaints & Exams for the specific Claim (i.e. patient’s treatment episode). Remember you can have multiple simultaneous Claims running, each with thier own ICD-9 diagnosis, complaints, etc.  When you create a new Soap Note you will be asked to select which claim the note is for.

create a new soap note & select the claim it is for

While in the SOAP Note Editor or Wizard you can quickly jump to  Claim Wizard Page-3 to view & change the complaints & exams! Do this effortlessly with the top menu or keyboard hotkey CTRL+F3. Note that the same keyboard shortcut is universally used in ChiroPulse365, in many windows such as Office notebook, Travelcard, Patient Homepage, Scheduler, Soap Notes, History, etc.

Use the menubar in Soap Wizard to quickly open Claim Wizard page-3

The first goal is to establish what you want to clinically monitor while the patient is under your care for this treatment period (ie. claim). Complaint & Exam packages can be created for frequently used diagnostic scenarios. This will allow you to rapidly enter a preset package for “sciatica” or “headaches” with complaints & exams in your specified order.  These can be changed on-the-fly while doing Soaps using  add/insert, omit & remove;  or changed permanently (all soaps going forward) via Claim Wizard. Just remember it is best to setup your starting point in the Claim Wizard first.

In the example below we will change the primary complaint (selected in blue) in Claim Wizard. We then save the changes so that the appropriate complaints will appear when we create a new Soap Note for this Patient & claim.

Claim Wizard page-3 Complaints & Exams

The Point/Click Wizard has started in the picture below, ready to create a new Soap Note.  In the Wizard you work from top to bottom, left to right & remember that almost everything is “clickable” or selectable. You can see in this example three (3) Chief Complaints are used for Carmella but the “shoulder-arm…” complaint is Omitted for this note meaning we will skip that complaint for today’s note. Use omit to skip a complaint or exam while keeping it in the Claim Wizard for use later, such as if an exacerbation occurs. You can delete the complaint so it will not appear in the next new Soap note.

Use the SOAP tabs to navigate between components or simply use Next/F3 to go from finding to finding (ie.  location… description… better… aggravated) to quickly loop through & visually create your Soap Note. The keyboard shortcuts allow you to navigate a Soap without grabbing for the mouse. If you are using the mouse however, you can click on any blue text link to jump to that data panel.

Read more…

Team Pulse Tips & Hints clinical, notes, soap, touchscreen

Buying a New Computer or replacing an older PC?
Please read below and follow our suggestions to save money, improve performance and make your life easier…

Server or Stand-alone PC

• Dual Core, Core2Duo, X2, X3 or Quad Processor 2.5GHz or faster preferred. Slower is slower so don’t do that to your staff   Remember Pentium 4 computers from 3 years ago were 3Ghz – actually faster in some ways for single applications & data throughput. Avoid older 32-bit Celeron processors as they’re they’re older, slower and waste energy. Just about any PC at this level will be OK and give you a few years use as expensed office equipment.
• 2GB Ram for new PCs running XP (1GB is fine for older PCs). If you are using Vista or Windows 7 you REALLY want 4GB RAM even if your tech and computer salesman says otherwise. Using Vista 64-bit or Windows7 64-bit allows you to use even more memory.
• SATA 3.0Gb/s drives only (anything more than 80-120GB on workstations is overkill for office applications).
• Be aware that running XP Home or Vista/Windows7 Home on your Server as you will be LIMITED to 5 computers connecting. (Pro/Business allows 10 PCs, after that “Windows Server” allows near unlimited PCs to connect.)
• Backup to USB external drive (self-powered 2.5″ preferred) or removable 4+ GB USB flash drive. Please do not use DVD/CD backup as it’s unreliable, clumsy and not always compatible when needed to be used to restore files. Read more…

Team Pulse Computer Computer, hardware, network, PC, requirements, Vista, Windows 7, XP

Netbooks are an exciting new class of ultra-portable laptops that are small, light, well priced, that run Windows & ChiroPulse365! Yes indeed, Pulse Software now offers ChiroPulse365 products that support these “Netbooks”! We have been testing the Dell Mini-9 (shown above next to a medium coffee) using Wireless-N wifi network connections with great result.

Wireless Use of ChiroPulse365 with Laptops & Netbooks Read more…

Team Pulse New Features Computer, dell mini, hardware, netbook, notes, Scheduler, wifi, wireless

We’re going to try and Blog each ChiroPulse365 Refresh from here on out, to visualize some changes. For a complete list of changes please see the Member Center and/or from MyOffice open the “Recent Additions” printable file!

We are releasing a second Refresh in March because we anticipate our next Refresh will be a significant one with database level jump to allow for our Image & Document Managment System to be introduced.

Changes in this Refresh:

Travelcard startup configuration - new menu added

Travelcard – “Set Travelcard Startup…” new top menu added with keyboard shortcut Alt-T.  This lets you select which note type to view & load when opening Travelcard, for each computer. Previously the “SOAP Note” was automatically viewed, then more recently “ChiroCare”. Now you can decide, per computer what you want to view when Travelcard is opened!

Image/File/Document Viewer – audio/video files now appear in the file list, including .MP3, .WMV, .WMA. .MOV & more

Patient Invoice-1 margins tweaked to better accommodate dot-matrix printers.

Enhanced Scheduler Window

• “Open Patient’s Travelcard…” new top menu added with keyboard shortcut Alt-P. This lets you quickly open TravelCard for the selected patient, with less mouse movement or clicks. This is also featured in the ChiroPulse365 Notes & Scheduler Edition for computers or Netbooks!
• Scheduler window should now always properly open in the Top Upper Left corner of your Windows Desktop. Previously it might have been opened slightly above under certain scenarios.
• “Document Viewer…” new top menu added with keyboard shortcut Alt-D. This lets you quickly open the Document/Image viewer to see all computer files & documents indexed to the selected patient. From there you can quickly read/view, print or externally edit these documents. You can index new documents as well.

New Scheduler top menu items (ChiroPulse365 & Windows 7 beta)

Netbook Visual Mode Enabled – when you login to ChiroPulse365 you can now check “netbook mode” to use ChiroPulse365 on Netbooks with 1024×600 or 1024×576 video screen resolution.

ChiroPulse365 Netbook Visual Mode can be turned on from the login window

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Team Pulse New Features, Refresh file management, netbook, patient invoice 1, Refresh, Scheduler, travelcard

We just launched our web blog (i.e blog) to help us stay in better touch with your office! Let us share some exciting things happening with ChiroPulse365.

1. ChiroPulse365 will soon feature a fully indexed document file-management system that links any computer file to your patient database. You simply view/find the computer file (document, audio, video, picture, PDF, etc.) then tag it by patient, description, date, & keywords as well as optionally link it to a treating doctor, referring doctor, claim and/or lawyer. This lets you instantly retrieve, view, edit or print the linked file from any computer in your office or network running ChiroPulse365 – including wireless netbooks!

When working with any patient (for example from  Patient Finder Tab) you will see a list of documents – such as MRI results from 2/2009, blood tests, faxes, word processor files – that were linked to this patient. Thus keeping your patient files totally organized & always at your fingertips!  – This is in beta testing at select sites since February, 2009. Read more…

Team Pulse New Features, Scheduler document, file management, image, preschedule, Scheduler

1. If all slots for the doctor are taken you can quickly insert one.
First click on a taken slot for the doctor, so it presets that doctor. Now click “new appointment”, select the patient then click “Select Slot”. Now press “Add Extra Slot” and create the additional slot.

2. Future Appointments view is for…. you guessed it…. viewing only future appointents
To view all appointments for the week simply click the date and in the calendar click Week. To view all appointments for the month for a specific patient, in scheduler F3 find the patient & click the date, then month button. Presto!

3. Keyboard shortcuts are your friend in patient finder. Especially the less obvious ones.
For example in the patient dropbox type “all” (without the quotes” and press down arrow to immediately go to all patients. To find Joe Fitzgerald simply type fitzg and press down once or twice until Joe Fitzgerald appears right before your eyes! No need to keep reaching for the mouse. Read more…

Team Pulse Scheduler, Tips & Hints appointment, charges, keyboard shortcuts, Scheduler, visits, waiting