It’s just about that time of year again! It won’t be long before the leaves will be falling, the temperature dropping and the CPR+ annual release will be posted. Since implementing the annual release cycle 3 years ago, we’ve released dozens of major, new enhancements and hundreds of minor ones every October. This year is no exception and is packed with some of the most exciting and most often requested enhancements to date.
In this article, I’m going to give you a “sneak peak” at some of the more interesting and most often requested enhancements. I don’t want to make this article a “novel” so I’m going to give you a 10,000 foot view. Make sure you join us at this year’s User Conference October 3rd – 5th to get the details on how to use these exciting, new enhancements and how they will help make your business more efficient!
User Defined Delivery Tickets (PDL # 21889): Without a doubt, the most often requested changes are to the Delivery Ticket. Unfortunately, these changes are usually very specific to the organization making the request. To help give users more control over the look of their Delivery Tickets, we’ve added the ability to customize tickets just like we have for Rx labels and patient statements. You will now have the ability to move things around, add new fields, add your company logo, etc. to the following types of tickets: standard Delivery Ticket, standard Delivery Ticket with pricing, Pickup Ticket, Point of Sale Ticket and Clean Room Ticket.
Electronic Insurance Verification 270 / 271 (PDL # 24055): The 270 is the electronic format that is required to send an eligibility inquiry to an insurance company. The 271 is the response that is sent back by the insurance company. We are happy to report that we’ve recently completed all of the testing and are certified to send and receive these types of transmissions through Emdeon. After sending the 270 and receiving the 271 response, you will be able to view miscellaneous information about the patient’s coverage such as co-pay amounts, max-out of pocket, deductible amounts, etc.
Rental Item Depreciation (PDL # 25484): This enhancement will allow users to enter a “Depreciation Lifespan” for each rental item in inventory. Based on the “Date Placed in Service” and the “Acquisition Cost” for each item, CPR+ will calculate and display the “Residual Value”. We’ve also included a report that can tell you the value of rental items as of a specified date.
Expanding the Length of Patient Names (PDL # 25681 & PDL # 26079): This is another modification that has received quite a few requests throughout the years. The length of the patient’s last name (currently 15) and first name (currently 14) have been expanded to 25 characters each. You will notice slight changes to most of the forms and reports throughout CPR+ to accommodate the amount of space needed to display this amount of characters.
RTB & Confirmation File Managers (PDL # 24049): If your Ready to Bill or Delivery Ticket Confirmation files are large and difficult to manage, then we are sure you will appreciate this new enhancement. In both of these areas, we’ve added numerous filters to help you narrow your search and allow your staff to focus on the tickets that they need. See the screen shot below:
Medicare Date Spanning for Invoices (PDL # 25688): Some items billed to Medicare require the service dates to be spanned while others require the dates to be the same (e.g. equipment). This new enhancement will allow you to assign the appropriate method to each inventory item so when you copy charges or batch bill, the dates are pulled in correctly and do not require manual manipulation.
Service Date Checks On Delivery Tickets (PDL # 25685): This enhancement was added to help prevent overlapping or gaps in service dates. The working Delivery Ticket will now display the previous service dates next to the fields to enter the new dates. If the new dates fall between the previous dates or there is more than one day between the new and previous dates, the user will receive a warning message.
Amerisource Bergen Interface (PDL # 25492): This enhancement will allow CPR+ to interface with Amerisource Bergen’s ordering system (ECHO). The interface allows users to create purchase orders as well as update their supplier costs.
Changes to Clinician Visit (PDL # 25680): To make it easier to utilize the Clinician Visits for more than just nursing (e.g. Respiratory Therapist, Dietician, etc.) we’ve included a “Department” field that can be assigned to each visit. We’ve also included the ability to filter the Clinician Visit list by this new “Department”.
Timely Filing (PDL # 24725): If you’ve had cases where you are unable to collect payments because you’ve missed a filing deadline, then you will be interested in this new enhancement. At the insurance company level, you will now be able to specify the number of days from the date of service for timely filing. There is also a new program option that will allow you to set the number of days from the timely filing deadline to highlight Delivery Tickets. Based on these settings, Delivery Tickets in the Ready to Bill File will be highlighted if they are within the set number of days from the timely filing deadline.
Void Progress Notes (PDL # 24057): Have you had cases where someone accidentally enters a progress or billing note on the wrong patient? This new enhancement allows users to void their own progress and billing notes. Once voided the note can no longer be printed and will no longer display in the follow up lists or on reports.
Diagnosis Analysis Reports (PDL # 24289): This new group of reports will allow users to quickly identify patients, orders, invoices and CMNs/SMNs containing a particular diagnosis.
Quantity Limit Tracking (PDL # 22750): It’s pretty common for payors (particularly state Medicaid plans) to set limits on the number of times a particular item can be dispensed for a period of time. To help keep you from going over those limits, we’ve added the ability to set a limit for inventory items by day, week or month in the Special Price Matrix. You can also “override” the amount for the insurance company at the patient level. On the Delivery Ticket, if a user attempts to add a quantity greater than the amount assigned for the given time period, they will receive a warning message. We’ve also expanded this functionality to track quantity limits for Clinician Visits.
Patient Specific Contract / Negotiated Rates (PDL # 22749): If you routinely negotiate patient specific rates with case managers, then you will find this new functionality helpful. In the Insurance Verification screen, you can identify specific items as a “Negotiated Rate”. When these items are added to the Delivery Ticket, CPR+ will utilize the patient specific price instead of the insurance’s contract or list price. Along with this item, we have also included the ability to fill out an insurance verification form for the patient (as opposed to the insurance company assigned to the patient). This allows you to assign negotiated rates for patient pay tickets.
Document Management Manger (PDL # 24048): There are hundreds of customers using the CPR+ Document Management System, many of which have tens of thousands of documents. To make it easier to track down the documents you need, we’ve developed the “Document Management Manager”. Just like all of the other “managers”, we’ve added a list of filters to help you identify precisely what you are looking for. Additionally, we’ve included a new field to help you further classify your documents. See screen shot below:
Alert / Disable Patient Access (PDL # 20902): This new enhancement will allow users that are given a specific security privilege, to lock a patient’s clinical account. When a patient’s account is locked and a user attempts to access that patient, the Patient Alert will be displayed. Once exiting the patient alert, the user will be taken back to the main menu and will not be given access to the Patient Menu. Speaking of patient alerts, we’ve also added the ability to view the history of all changes made to the patient’s clinical and billing alerts (PDL # 23458).
Auto Email Notification of Deliveries (PDL # 19343): After some initial setup, users can have CPR+ automatically generate an email to the patient or specified patient contacts whenever a Delivery Ticket is printed and sent to the confirmation file. The subject of the email will be, “Delivery to be made on <delivery date> by <your company>”. The body of the email will look just like the Delivery Ticket that was printed (without the patient’s name and address). You can use this email notification to remind patients of when you are making a delivery and what items will be included.
Updating Medi-Span via FTP / Web (PDL # 20201): Once updating to 8.1a, users will have the ability to download Medi-Span updates through the program on a weekly or monthly basis. If your Internet connection is a little slow, you can even setup the download as part of your End of Day process so it takes place at night. We will continue to send a monthly CD until 12/31/2008. After that time, customers that still need a CD will have to sign-up to receive them for a small fee.
Price Quotes (PDL # 20810): If you routinely provide price quotes to patients or payors, you will appreciate this new enhancement. We’ve added the ability to generate a price quote for existing patients or new patients that have not been entered into CPR+. You have the option of adding items individually or using a supply kit template. You can setup pricing multipliers for each type of inventory item being added to the quote or you can manually enter a price. Once you finish a price quote, you can print a copy for the case manager and once accepted, have the patient automatically added to CPR+. You are also given the option to pull the items from the price quote onto a Delivery Ticket.
Inactivating a Prescriber (PDL # 17246): There was recently a lot of discussion on the CPR+ Listserv (if you aren’t familiar with the Listserv, please contact our Support Department so they can tell you how to get signed up) about what to do with prescribers that are no longer used. This enhancement allows you to inactivate prescribers so they are no longer available to be added to patients, Rx’s, invoices, etc. They will still be available through the Databases Menu if needed.
Exchange Tickets (PDL # 12283): We’ve had quite a few requests throughout the years to have the ability to “swap out” a piece of equipment without having to create a Delivery Ticket for the new item and a pickup ticket for the old item (A.K.A. “Exchange Tickets”). This new enhancement allows you to do just that! You will now have the ability to add exchange items or simply pickup items onto your standard delivery ticket. The items that need to be picked up will be grouped together after the items to be delivered on the printed copy of the ticket. When confirming a ticket containing both delivery and pickup items, the pickup items will be automatically split onto their own ticket and assigned to invoice # 99999 so they will not be displayed in the Ready to Bill file. Although the regular Pickup Tickets are no longer necessary, we’ve continued to include them for those of you that are accustomed to using pickup tickets and are not interested in utilizing this new feature.
Recurring Rental Sold Report (PDL # 22325): After Recurring Rental invoices have been created, a new report will print consisting of all items that have a Sold Date between the dates specified for the invoices. This report can be used to determine which patients require a sold letter to be sent.
Line Item Financials (PDL # 24440): Last but certainly not least, is the Line Item Financial changes. I’m sure that most of you are aware that this new enhancement has been in the “works” for quite some time. It won’t be available for the initial release of 8.1a, but we expect it to be ready to go by the end of the year. This new enhancement is basically a redesign of both the “front” and “back ends” of the billing side of CPR+. It will consist of a new look as well as the ability to do things that just can’t be done or require “work arounds” with the current billing design. Customers will be required to attend specific training sessions and an upgrade process before utilizing the new Line Item Based Financials.
If you are not already signed up for this year’s User Conference, I highly encourage you to do so. I assure you that this enhancement alone is “worth the price of admission”!