What’s New December 2006
	There are appropriately presents for everyone this month with the addition of EDI to the billing, Spell Check to the EMR, email reminders of appointments and other goodies and corrections. So please do the update.
	Once again we are giving you a free update to the database engine, this time to version 8.1 for faster performance and new features. This can be downloaded via the File | Database |Update Server item on the system menu and can be done at any time that no-one is logged in to TheraManager. This is an advance warning since we have not yet added the components to the program that will require that this update has been done. When the additions are made a message to that effect will appear on logging in to that version.
	We had hoped to use the new bulletin board on our website. Unfortunately it is being badly flamed and we will need to modify it to be viable, so it is back to the Yahoo user group for present.
	We came across a recent piece of research that showed that the US is far behind other Western nations in its use of Eelectronic Health Records (EHR). The percentage of physicians with access to health information technology (HIT) runs at or well above 80% in Australia, Netherlands, New Zealand and UK but only 28% in the US. Even if your typing speed is poor, TheraManager is designed to use handwriting on a TabletPC, forms and templates, or use of the new Dragon 9 speech recognition for creating EMR. We are trying but the US needs help from more of you!
	We have added links to some of your websites on our website so please add a link to our website on yours. We can supply you with our logo or you could just have a sentence that reads for example "Our office uses TheraManager software to ensure the privacy of your records." with a link to www.theramanager.com.
	Thank you for your cards and we wish all of you Seasons Greetings and a Happy, Prosperous and Satisfying New Year. If you ever thought Power Point presentations were boring try pasting http://www.theramanager.com/dom_downloads/joyeux_noel.pps into your browser. You must have the powerpoint viewer available as a free download from the microsoft website, on your machine.
EMR.
	Spell Check has been added to the EMR Notes Screen. This is a sophisticated capability that comes with English, Medical and Autocheck dictionaries, the ability to create your own dictionary and a Thesaurus. It can be called on demand ("Ctrl L") but it also does live spell check, ie it can underline errors and autocorrect as you type. For the literate it can be turned off on the popup menu, where you will also find a Thesaurus capability. The most important feature of Autocorrect may be that you can invent and have the program autocorrect your own shorthand to speed your notetaking
	The EMR Notes Screen contains 4 panels (Summary, Notes, Diagnosis and Medications) that can be sized. Your configuration can now be stored by clicking the Save Screen Configuration item on the popup menu.
	The operation of the links embedded in the notes has been changed to using the Windows association with the file type to open the appropriate viewer, ie there are no longer any file type or version restrictions in the program and if the right program doesn't open, don't blame us! If you have not yet tried using the pseudo html capability in your notes, you should.
	The number of days before medical records are locked automatically can can now be set at the Corporate Screen. The default when blank is 7 and "999" will cause the notes never to be locked. The Summary, Treatment Plan and Private Notes are never locked and Reports are locked after 30 days.
	One of the dedicated makers and users of templates and forms for mental health, and very active in the user group is Dr Joseph McCoy. He says that he would be very happy to exchange forms and templates with other mental health users of TheraManager. His email address is josephmccoy@valleypsychologicalservices.com
Documents
	The operation of viewing stored documents has been altered so that the Windows Association with the file type of the stored filename is used to open the appropriate external viewer if required, ie there are no longer any file type or viewer version restrictions in the program and if the right viewer program doesn't open, don't blame us!
Diagnosis
	We have modified the Diagnosis ICD-9 Screen to allow for a total of 10 diagnosis codes. The top 4 can be designated as codes to be used for insurance billing.
Billing
	We have now added Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) capability to the program. This is the preferred format for submission of insurance bills electronically. The program batches the bills into a file and then can be uploaded to your chosen clearing house or the insurance organization directly. Unfortunately despite the standards there is imperfect uniformity in the industry and some clearing houses are more particular than others. We have found that "FreeClaims" is very tolerant but we have also checked out several other clearing houses including THIN-Availity, BCBS of Michigan and WebMD-EMDEON. To adopt EDI, select an EDI Target for each insurance organization at the Orgns/Plans Screen. These can be pick-and-mix or click the All Button to select one clearing house for all organizations. We can add to this list as we gain experience with them. You will have to submit a batch of approximately 25 real completed claims to be approved. We can help you if there are any issues to be resolved. Leave the EDI Target blank, and check the Electronic Print Image Checkbox to send print image files, or uncheck it to print paper CMS-1500 forms. A new checkbox for EDI has been introduced at the Batch Screen. Unfortunately the use of the universal payor id entered at the Organizations Screen will not become universal until ~April or May of next year but all the clearing houses have their own lists.
	The print batching has been refined so that selected items printed by Patient will be printed in one batch electronically or streamed to the printer in one spooling.
	The option at posting to waive copay has been corrected.
	We have added fields "Total Charge" to the CPT Records Grid and the Billing Grid. Total Charge is the amount that you expect to receive from the patient and insurance combined. This field will be populated from the data in the existing records for all records and displayed on both the CPT Records and the Billing Grids.
	Actions without any charge, can now be entered on the Billing Screen with an option on each one to print it on the bill. These actions will also show as a separate category on the Transaction Screen
Earnings.
	We have combined the right to view the Customization Screen with the right to view the Earnings Screen when the Right to view the Checking Screen is unchecked. This allows each provider in a group office to view their earnings on line without being able to see the earnings of their colleagues. The Print Check Button is, of course, disabled in this case!
Reports
	We have added a Daily Reports to the Transactions Screen that will display both the details and summarize the day's activities with a corresponding printing capability. The report includes charges and payments and discounts or write-offs from your regular or Allowed charges. The reports can also be printed for any selected time period. Actions that can now be entered on the Billing Screen will also be shown on the report.
	We have added a report of discharges. The data assumes that no appointments for 100 days signifies discontinuation of treatment. This feature allows monitoring in a group office as to whether new patients continue treatment with a clinician, or the statistics of treatment.
Appointments
	Appointment Reminders can now be designated for email reminders. At the Tasks Screen, these can be scavenged and then selected for automatic email reminders.
	The Appointments Screen has a neat privacy option, so that patients can view the screen and select their own appointment times without seeing the names of other patients. The button that controls this is just to the left of the Month-at-a-glance Calendar. The privacy has now been extended to blank the notes in the providers' appointments in case they are compromising!
	Booking repeat appointments of Managed Care patients with authorizations for visits has been corrected, so that the program now books visits up to the date at which they run out or expire.
	Don't forget to use Autobook on the popup menu or on the Booking Form. This will show you the next open appointment during the (white) work day, pick a time on that day or click again for the next day with an open appointment.
Payments
	The entering of zero payments from insurance organizations has been changed to not only use the prior posting information to correctly inform you as to what the patient should be billed for the zero payment cpt record, and includes an option to change the amount, but the number of messages has been reduced.
Patients Demographics.
	Those boxes required to submit insurance claims have been highlighted in green.
	A patients paper chart can be printed from the Print Button on the toolbar at the Patients Screen and now includes the bill-payer and family data.
System Menu
	We have added options to search for patients by statement number and chart descriptor on the Search | Find Patients by.. on the system menu.
Managed Care Authorizations
	It was not possible to add authorized visits to old authorizations codes once they had run out and had zero remaining. This has been fixed. Additional authorizations can be added on the grid and the Check Authorizations run from the popup menu.
	Thanks again for your continuing support, suggestions and patience as we try to make this program be all things to all people, for your continuing referrals and for forwarding this email to your colleagues.
	If you have suggestions or need support please contact support@theramanager.com or call 908-508-8900.
	If you have never downloaded TheraManager, go to our website and download the FREE Trial, or call 800-913-4294 to request an on-line demo or if an earlier trial has expired. Our customers have converted from many other programs and we make the switch easy with an import of your existing patient demographic data.