ÿþ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3c.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/loose.dtd"> <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Release Notes - May 2006 - Medical Billing Software - Kareo.com</TITLE> <META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <STYLE type="text/css"> .textHeadline { font-family: Trebuchet MS, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; color: #ff7f00; } .textSubhead1 { font-family: Trebuchet MS, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 14px; line-height:25px; font-weight: bold; color: #424749; } .textSubhead { font-family: Trebuchet MS, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 14px; line-height:25px; font-weight: bold; color: #ff7f00; } .textSectionHeader { font-family: Trebuchet MS, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height:25px; font-weight: bold; color: #ff7f00; } .textNormal { font-family: Trebuchet MS, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 12px; color: #393D3F; } a.textNormal { font-family: Trebuchet MS, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 12px; color: #145995; text-decoration: underline; } a.textNormal:hover { color: #FF7F00; text-decoration: underline; } .textFooter { font-family: Trebuchet MS, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10px; color: #4D4D4D; } a.textFooter { font-family: Trebuchet MS, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10px; color: #145995; text-decoration: underline; } a.textFooter:hover { color: #FF7F00; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: underline; } </STYLE> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2769" name="GENERATOR"> </HEAD> <BODY bgcolor="white"> <IMG src="http://www.kareo.com/images/logo_email.gif" border="0"> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textHeadline">Kareo Release Notes - May 2006</SPAN> <P> <P class="textNormal"> A new release of Kareo's web-based medical billing software has been deployed. Below you'll find the list of new features followed by a short description of each new feature. For more information about these features, please consult the online help or user manual. For software support, email <A class="textNormal" href="mailto:support@kareo.com"> support@kareo.com</A> or call 888-775-2736 during our normal business hours of Monday through Friday between the hours of 7AM to 6PM PDT. </P> <P class="textNormal"> Kareo is now accepting feature requests for the next release. If you would like us to consider your priorities, feedback, or new ideas for software enhancements, please send us an email at <A class="textNormal" href="mailto:features@kareo.com"> features@kareo.com</A>. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead1">New Features List</SPAN> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#9653">New Patient Activities Area</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#6987">New Journaled Patient Notes</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#9798">Setup Provider Schedules and Configure Timeblocks</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#9790">Redesigned Payment Posting Process</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#9439">Support Batch Numbers for Entering Charges</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#9440">Support Batch Numbers for Posting Payments</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#9410">New Ticket Numbers Streamline Charge Entry</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#9796">Capitated Contracts and Payments</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#9537">Patient Reports Cross-Linked to Patient Record</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#10231">New Patient Statement Report</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#10292">New Encounters Summary Report</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#10290">New Encounters Detail Report</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#9789">Create Encounter from Appointment</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#9066">Show Warning when Closing Task Without Saving</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#9407">Show Bolder, Larger Patient Alerts</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#9536">Display and Search for Patients by Date of Birth</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#10210">Two New Encounter Forms</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#unpay">New Unpayable Encounters</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#officeally">New Clearinghouse Interface with Office Ally</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#validator">New Electronic Claims Internal Validation</a> <li><a class="textNormal" href="#other">Other Software Issues Resolved</a> </SPAN> <P></P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead1">New Features Descriptions</SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="9653">New Patient Activities Area</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Business Manager, Medical Office<br> <b>Area:</b> Patients<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> The patient activities area of the patient record has been redesigned to provide a better snapshot of a patient's financial status. When you access the Activities tab of the Patient record, the system now displays a list of charges with an open balance. Alternatively, you can quickly access lists of other information associated with the patient including recent payments, recent statements, recent encounters, recent appointments, as well as, a complete ledger of all financial transactions associated with the patient. You can also click on any item in any of the lists to cross-reference into the corresponding record (e.g. Claim, Encounter, Statement, Appointment, etc). <br> &nbsp;<br> For more information on this feature, refer to the help topic Managing Patient Records &gt; Changing a Patient Record &gt; Viewing Patient Activities located in the Online Help and User Manual. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="6987">New Journaled Patient Notes</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Business Manager, Medical Office<br> <b>Area:</b> Patients<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> You can now store a series of notes on the patient record with each one date- and time- stamped and labeled with the name of the user that added the note. All of the previously entered notes are displayed when you open the patient record. Users with privileged security permissions can hide previously entered notes or restore notes that were previously hidden by another user. The new journaled notes control can be found in the Notes area under the General tab of the Patient record. <br> &nbsp;<br> For more information on this feature, refer to the help topic Managing Patient Records &gt; Changing a Patient Record located in the Online Help and User Manual. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="9798">Setup Provider Schedules and Configure Timeblocks</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Medical Office<br> <b>Area:</b> Appointments<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> You can now set up provider schedules and configure recurring time blocks to establish scheduling rules for your providers. You can give each time block a name (e.g. New Patient Visits, Establish Patient Visits, Surgeries, Emergencies, Do Not Schedule, Lunch, etc.) and a color code. Once your time blocks are configured, the appointment calendar will be color coded by time block and a legend will appear at the bottom of the appointment calendar to show you the mapping between color codes and time block names. These features enable an office manager to define scheduling rules for providers and then to display those rules for any user that might be scheduling an appointment for a provider. <br> &nbsp;<br> This is the first phase of a series of improvements designed to transition the appointment calendar from a booking system to a true scheduling engine with sophisticated templates and rules. You can expect further enhancements in the next few releases including features to define permissible reason codes and service locations for each timeblock, display multiple provider calendars side-by-side, and a scheduling engine which will find the next available appointment based upon various search criteria provided by the user. <br> &nbsp;<br> For more information on these features, refer to the help topic Using the Appointment Scheduler &gt; Using the Time Block Calendars located in the Online Help and User Manual. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="9790">Redesigned Payment Posting Process</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Business Manager<br> <b>Area:</b> Payments<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> The payment posting process has been redesigned with several new features and improved keyboard navigation. First, you can now post denials during the normal payment posting process. Second, you can enter multiple adjustment per service line. Third, you can enter reasons for transferring a balance from one payer to another. Fourth, you can enter a free-form note that is tracked with each service line. Finally, the keyboard navigation has been improved significantly to streamline the posting process. <br> &nbsp;<br> For more information on these features, refer to the help topic Posting Payments located in the Online Help and User Manual. <br> &nbsp;<br> Important Note: We would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge our users' request for another important improvement to the payment posting process. We know you may need to apply portions of a payment to a service line in excess of the remaining balance on that service line. This is important to allow a credit balance on a service line that can later be refunded back to the patient. We understand this need and we will be deploying another patch release in the very near future and in advance of our next major release in order to address this issue. We appreciate your patience. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="9439">Support Batch Numbers for Entering Charges</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Business Manager<br> <b>Area:</b> Encounters<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> You can now enter a batch number when entering encounters and later filter various reports by batch. The New Encounter task now includes a Batch # field that can be used when entering charges. The Batch # is a free-form field and can contain any alpha-numeric text to uniquely identify your batch. You can also filter various reports by Batch #, including Account Activity, Patient Transactions Summary, Provider Productivity, Encounters Summary, and Encounter Details. <br> &nbsp;<br> For more information on these features, refer to the help topic Entering and Tracking Encounters &gt; Entering a New Encounter located in the Online Help and User Manual. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="9440">Support Batch Numbers for Posting Payments</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Business Manager<br> <b>Area:</b> Payments<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> You can now enter a batch number when posting payments and later filter various reports by batch. The Receive Payment task now includes a Batch # field that can be used when posting payments. The Batch # is a free-form field and can contain any alpha-numeric text to uniquely identify your batch. You can also filter various reports by Batch #, including Payments Summary, Payments Details, Payment Application, Missed Copays, Account Activity, Patient Transactions Summary, Encounters Summary, and Encounter Details. <br> &nbsp;<br> For more information on these features, refer to the help topic Posting Payments &gt; Posting a Payment Manually located in the Online Help and User Manual. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="9410">New Ticket Numbers Streamline Charge Entry</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Medical Office, Business Manager<br> <b>Area:</b> Appointments, Encounter Forms, Encounters<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> You can now use ticket numbers associated with appointments and can also be printed on encounter forms to streamline the charge entry process. The system now assigns a unique ticket number to every appointment. These ticket numbers are printed on all encounter forms. You can now enter the ticket number in the new Appointment field of the encounter record and the system will automatically populate information from the appointment into the new encounter, including the Patient, Case, Authorization, Provider, Service Location, etc. Using ticket numbers can save you time and keystrokes when entering charges. <br> &nbsp;<br> For more information on these features, refer to the help topic Entering and Tracking Encounters &gt; Entering a New Encounter located in the Online Help and User Manual. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="9796">Capitated Contracts and Payments</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Business Manager<br> <b>Area:</b> Payments<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> You can now set up up capitated contracts and receive payments from payers under a capitated contract. There is a new checkbox in the Contract Details task that enables you to define an Insurance Specific contract as being associated with a capitated insurance plan. By checking this box, all procedures by default will be treated as covered by the capitated insurance plan. This means the system will automatically adjust the balance on capitated charges to $0.00 upon approving an encounter where the primary insurance policy is governed by a capitated payer. However, you can also carve out specific procedures as fee-for-service exceptions to the capitated insurance plan by adding the procedures and charge amount to the Fee Schedule tab of the corresponding capitated contract. You can also set up capitated accounts in the system and apply portions of a payment to a capitated account. <br> &nbsp;<br> For more information on these features, refer to the help topics Posting Payments and Managing Capitated Accounts located in the Online Help and User Manual. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="9537">Patient Reports Cross-Linked to Patient Record</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Medical Office, Business Manager<br> <b>Area:</b> Patients<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> You can now access any patient report directly from the patient record. The patient task now shows a Reports... button that displays a list of patient specific reports when clicked. Simply select a report from the list and the system will generate the report for the current patient. <br> &nbsp;<br> For more information on this feature, refer to the help topic Managing Patient Records &gt; Changing a Patient Record &gt; Printing Patient Reports located in the Online Help and User Manual. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="10231">New Patient Statement Report</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Medical Office, Business Manager<br> <b>Area:</b> Patients<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> You can now access a new Patient Statement report. This provides a patient statement on-demand that can be used as a walkout statement for office visits or a printed statement for mailing. The new report is located in the Patients category of the Reports menu and is also cross-linked from the Patient record. <br> &nbsp;<br> For more information on this report, refer to the help topic Generating Reports &gt; Understanding the Reports &gt; The Patient Reports located in the Online Help and User Manual. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="10292">New Encounters Summary Report</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Medical Office, Business Manager<br> <b>Area:</b> Encounters, Reports<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> The new Encounters Summary report shows a summary of encounters over a period of time. You can generate the report by posting date or service date. You can filter by status, service location, provider, payer scenario, department, and batch #. You can also configure the primary and secondary grouping by status, provider, service location, or department. You can find this new report in the Encounters category of the Reports menu. <br> &nbsp;<br> For more information on this report, refer to the help topic Generating Reports &gt; Understanding the Reports &gt; The Encounter Reports located in the Online Help and User Manual. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="10290">New Encounters Detail Report</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Medical Office, Business Manager<br> <b>Area:</b> Encounters, Reports<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> The new Encounters Detail report shows a detailed list of encounters over a period of time. You can generate the report by posting date or service date. You can filter by status, service location, provider, payer scenario, department, and batch #. You can also configure the primary grouping by status, provider, service location, or department. You can find this new report in the Encounters category of the Reports menu. <br> &nbsp;<br> For more information on this report, refer to the help topic Generating Reports &gt; Understanding the Reports &gt; The Encounter Reports located in the Online Help and User Manual. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="9789">Create Encounter from Appointment</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Medical Office<br> <b>Area:</b> Appointments<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> You can now create an encounter from a pre-existing appointment. Simply right-click on an appointment in the calendar, select Create Encounter, and the system will display a new encounter record and copy all of the information from the appointment including the Patient, Case, Authorization, Service Location, and Provider. <br> &nbsp;<br> For more information on this feature, refer to the help topic Using the Appointment Scheduler &gt; Using Other Scheduler Tasks &gt; Creating an Encounter located in the Online Help and User Manual. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="9066">Show Warning When Closing Record Without Saving</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Medical Office, Business Manager<br> <b>Area:</b> Various<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> The system now displays a warning message if you close a record you have edited without saving. This warning message displays for all of the key records in the system including Patients, Appointments, Encounters, and Payments. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="9407">Show Bolder, Larger Patient Alerts</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Medical Office, Business Manager<br> <b>Area:</b> Patients, Appointments, Encounters<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> The patient alerts are now displayed in a larger, bolder font and emphasized by a warning icon that draws more attention to the patient alert. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="9536">Display and Search for Patients by Date of Birth</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Medical Office, Business Manager<br> <b>Area:</b> Patients<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> The Find Patient task now shows the Date of Birth (DOB) field associated with a patient. You can also search for a patient by Date of Birth. For more information on this feature, refer to the help topic Managing Patient Records &gt; Finding a Patient located in the Online Help and User Manual. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="10210">Two New Encounter Forms</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Medical Office<br> <b>Area:</b> Encounter Forms<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> There are two new Encounter Form print formats. First, the form named "Two Page Four Column Grid" provides a two page encounter form with four columns of procedures and diagnoses. This form is especially useful for providers that use a lot of procedures and diagnoses. Second, the form named "Two Page with Recent Diagnoses" is a two page encounter form which displays the last six diagnoses for the patient. You can use these new Encounter Form print formats by changing the Print Format drop-down from the Edit Encounter Form task located in the Practice Settings area. <br> &nbsp;<br> For more information on this feature, refer to the help topic Setting Up the Practice &gt; Setting Up Encounter Forms located in the Online Help and User Manual. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="unpay">New Unpayable Encounters</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Medical Office, Business Manager<br> <b>Area:</b> Encounters<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> You can now enter unpayable encounters that do not get billed to an insurance company or a patient. To use this functionality, enter a custom payer scenario on a patient case and any encounters using this case will be classified with the status "Unpayable" when approved. If you would like to add custom payer scenarios to your account, please contact Kareo support at <A class="textNormal" href="mailto:support@kareo.com">support@kareo.com</A>. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="officeally">New Clearinghouse Interface with Office Ally</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Administrator, Business Manager<br> <b>Area:</b> Electronic Claims<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> You can now send electronic claims through Office Ally using the Kareo service. With the introduction of the new interface with Office Ally, Kareo has successfully completed integration and production testing of its second electronic clearinghouse. This means customers can now select either MedAvant or Office Ally for sending electronic claims. For more information about enrolling in electronic claims and remittance services with Office Ally, please contact Kareo support at <A class="textNormal" href="mailto:support@kareo.com">support@kareo.com</A> or 888-775-2736 during our normal business hours of Monday through Friday between the hours of 7AM to 6PM PST. </P> <P class="textNormal"> <SPAN class="textSubhead"><a name="validator">New Electronic Claims Internal Validation</a></SPAN><br> &nbsp;<br> <SPAN class="textNormal"> <b>Application:</b> Administrator, Business Manager<br> <b>Area:</b> Electronic Claims<br> </SPAN> </P> <P class="textNormal"> Kareo now checks your electronic claims for missing information before forwarding your claims to the clearinghouse (MedAvant or Office Ally). If your claims do not pass Kareo's internal validation, they will be marked with an Error status, they will NOT be forwarded to the clearinghouse, and you will receive a Kareo Internal Validation Report in your Clearinghouse Reports list. The Internal Validation Report provides a list of rejected claims along with information about the nature of the error. Kareo's internal validation currently checks for missing zip codes and missing provider numbers for Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross / Blue Shield. However, Kareo will be adding additional validation rules over time. It is very important that you closely monitor your Internal Validation Reports, make any necessary corrections to your claims, and resubmit your rejected claims. The new internal validation system was designed to identify errors quickly and prevent the delivery of erroneous claims to the clearinghouse (which might delay reimbursement). For more information, please contact Kareo support at <A class="textNormal" href="mailto:support@kareo.com">support@kareo.com</A> or 888-775-2736 during our normal business hours of Monday through Friday between the hours of 7AM to 6PM PST. </P> <P class=textNormal> <SPAN class=textSubhead><a name="other">Other Software Issues Resolved</a></SPAN> <SPAN class=textNormal> <li>Added provider filter to Payment Details report. (10134) <li>Added provider filter to A/R Aging Summary report. (10134) <li>Added revenue center filter to Account Activity report. (8546) <li>Added date of birth, improved formatting of Unpaid Insurance Claims report. (8573) <li>Primary insurance not displayed in encounter after editing case. (9899) <li>Updated payment application report to show amounts applied to capitated accounts. (10375) <li>Added support to track pregnancy condition and dates for the Last Menstrual Period. (10182) <li>Added support to print Last Menstrual Period on CMS 1500 form. (10269) <li>Show last billed party on service lines in receive payment task. (2899) <li>Fix margins on Daily Report so it does not exceed print margin. (7442) <li>Sometimes the POS is not auto-populated from Service Location on Encounter. (10266) </SPAN> </P> </BODY> </HTML>