PracticeWorks V9 Preview #1 - Multiple Staff in a Patient Chart

[Anon]

Good afternoon PracticeWorks community,

The development team has been diligently working on changing record locking in PracticeWorks' chart. If you are a long time user of PracticeWorks you probably thought this day would never come. 

In this discussion I'm going to hit the high points and reserve future discussions for the nuances of how we address certain workflows.

Here I'll review the following:

• Multiple Users in a Patient Chart
• Post Work Replaces Suspend
• Loading Treatment Plans into the Chart

Multiple Users in a Patient Chart

Here it is, two instances of the same patient chart open at the same time:

Though unlikely, it would be possible to open this patient's chart on every machine in the practice - at the same time. 

Post Work Replaces Suspend

The Suspend button has been replaced with Post Work. 

Post Work becomes available when a patient's chart is placed in Completed mode. After charting procedures, the Post Work button is clicked. This notifies the front that the patient is ready for checkout (turning the appointment red), switches the chart to Existing mode, and keeps you in the chart to complete any other work such as notes or prescriptions. 

Loading Treatment Plans Into the Chart

The current workflow to load a treatment plan in charting requires flipping back and forth between the Hard Tissue and Tx Plan tabs. 

Starting in V9 you can click the new Tx Plan button, found below the Hard Tissue graphic. 

Once you click the Tx Plan button you can select a different treatment plan or create a new one:

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I look forward to hearing from everyone about our progress and how you believe these changes will impact your practice. 

[nateinmaine]

Thanks for the news - this is going to be a nice upgrade!

What version of Pervasive will PracticeWorks v9 run on?  The reason I ask is that some past update of PracticeWorks required us to upgrade our version of PSQL to v11 for a decent chunk of change. PSQL v12 had been released for some months already at that time and we were wondering why we had to pay so much for software that was already out of date.  I raised the issue and our rep negotiated a 40% discount for us, but it still cost $1544.20.

PSQL v13 has been released - will we be able to buy a v13 license or will we have to buy an intermediate upgrade to v12?

[Anon]

Good morning Nathan,

PW v9.0 will not require a PSQL upgrade. 

We are reviewing our options for PSQL upgrades for 2019. As you pointed out, v12 and v13 are available but not yet certified for PW. Based on Pervasive's "end of life" documentation we'll most likely choose v13. When that time comes we'll let you know. 

[nateinmaine]

Thank you for the quick reply!  That's good news!

[jukes]

Will v9 support server 2016?

What is the anticipated release date?

[Anon]

I sent a private message so we can discuss in detail.

Thank you.

[joedindo]

I think that you're on the right track. 

One question is about being in the chart on one workstation and clicking on the history in the clipboard from another workstation?  That's currently not possible and I am wondering if that will be addressed in this update? 

Another feature associated with this update would be to have a System Event for when Post Work is clicked; that would allow us to trigger a softcom message (intra-office messaging)  to the front desk as an early warning mechanism for checking the patient out.

Any idea when the update will be ready?

[bnissen]

SoftCon sounds interesting.  Our new associate is promoting BlueNote, but we haven't pulled the trigger.  How do I find out more about SoftCon? Thanks!

[joedindo]

Here's the link 

SoftCom Messaging  

[Anon]

Hi Joe,

Thanks for the feedback. Please keep it coming.

When this feature is complete, you will be able to access the chart and history from the clipboard simultaneously. 

The Post Work button will turn the appointment red (if you've kept the default color for Suspend) which alerts the front that the appointment is ready to be checked out. Will that deliver the message your front staff will need?

I can tell you our goal for release is sometime in October, though that's subject to change. Right now things are looking good. I'll post more about the development process and where we are with the project in weeks to come. 

[joedindo]

Appreciate the update juriz. The appointment turning red should be enough but there are many times when that won't be seen because someone is tied up doing something else. In those situations, the additional reminder would be very useful...

[Anon]

Good morning Joe,

Currently we don't have a new system event in scope for the project. Does SoftCon pick up on or link to PracticeWorks messages in any way? I've not used that application.

Thanks.

[joedindo]

Softcom is a standalone intra-office communications app that can be triggered by a system-defined event.  For example, when a patient checks in, we have it setup with a system-defined event autolink to have softcom send a message to that operatory that their patient is here.  It's a very convenient and efficient way of doing things.

[Anon]

That sounds like an excellent system. Thanks for letting me know.