ePrior Approval

[clairec]

I work for a large NHS Health Board and we have just found out that Carestream is not going to be fully integrated for ePrior Approval and that we will have to submit our PAs via a web portal.  It's my understanding that all details will manually have to be keyed into the web form which will be very time consuming, laborious and open to lots of errors.

I am very disappointed as I feel we have been mislead regarding ePrior Approval.  It's my understanding that Carestream is the only software that isn't being fully integrated. 

We now have eOrtho round the corner and I am deeply concerned that we will be in the same situation with this.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

Claire

[Joanne21]

I also work for a large NHS Health Board . After completing the upgrade we discovered that the ePrior Approval was within this update and we have not yet been provided details for this. I find this very frustrating that the upgrade was available to us without all information required to allow us to send prior approval claims.
I am also disappointed that carestream are not having the eprior approval fully integrated into R4 as clinical staff are very busy and if the current system is time consuming this is not appropriate for clinical staff.
Regards
Joanne

[rktuck]

Well said Claire. This is extremely disappointing. I freely admit I am a technophobe and pay good money to have someone else keep things as simple as possible for me. Practitioner services are not known for being tolerant of even tiny errors so I see claims being continually bounced back and nurses spending lots of time on the phone to practitioner services rather than performing their other duties. This is aside from the extra time it will take to complete a PA in the first place. I’m not impressed! Karen Tuck

[Nina-Gilbert]

Hi Claire

I'm sorry to hear that you are disappointed with any messaging we've given around Prior Approvals within CS R4+.

This is our initial release to help the practices meet the 1st October deadline of paper forms no longer being permitted, whilst still allowing us to address other customer needs with our resources and allow for a further release this year for all customers.

We are in receipt of the specification for the 3rd eDental phase – Ortho payments, and will revisit the prior approval integration as part of this work.

We are committed to supporting all of our NHS practices in all regions of the UK to continue working to regulations through CS R4+.

Please feel free to contact me directly on nina.gilbert@csdental.com if you would like to talk through this further.

Nina

[grk]

Hi Nina,

A further week has passed and I think we would all appreciate a further update on Eprior Approval integration.  We remain very disappointed and very eager to see this issue sorted.  

Dare I also mention the lack of an update to integrate the new codes for resin restorations in under 15s.

I am looking forward to a more acceptable response.

Regards,

Gordon Kenney

[Anon]

Hello Mr Kenny,

Unfortunately I don't have an update on the Prior Approval situation, but the new resin treatment codes for under 15's, along with a few other new treatment codes were released in v6.4 which the practice should have received a couple of months ago. You can check the version that you are running by clicking [Help] - [About], if for any reason you do not have the correct version please contact support and they will be able to get it sent to your practice.

Kind Regards

Jon

[grk]

Hi Thank you for your reply.  I am on v6.4.  And there are no 4301,4302 codes.  As Kirsty Morrison would be able to confirm for you.

Kind regards,

Gordon Kenney

[Anon]

Hello Mr Kenny,

Thank you for checking and clarifying which version of the software you are on, the good news is that you are on the correct veraion, so I can only assume that the code update has not run in. Which should be easy to rectify by following the below steps.

• Load R4+ on the server.
• Select ‘yes’ when it says would you like to run the code update.
• Log in as an R4+ System administrator.

If this doesn't work let me know and I will get a support rep to contact you and assist.

Kind Regards

Jon

[aneebos]

Hi Jon

I have received an email from PSD regarding the ePrior Approval starting on 1st October 2018 and they stated the following -

'Your PMS supplier will provide you with a link to the web form within your system which is available from version 6.5.0.'

When will version 6.5.0. be issued and what does this link actually mean. As far as I can see so far we have to use a webform available via   https://nhsnss.org/services/practitioner/dental/payment-claims-and-fees/edental/guidance/

Can you advise please

Regards

Annibale

[Anon]

Hi Annibale,

The ePrior Approval service will be included on the latest update of R4 Clinical+, 6.5.1.

I can confirm that the disks for 6.5.1 started to go out last week, but unfortunately we cannot send the disk to customers who have not yet signed up online for the ePrior Approval service. If you have signed up already you should hopefully receive your disk soon.

Alternatively if you message me on here with your practice details I can check on our system to see whether the disk has been dispatched to your practice or not yet

Regards,

Stuart

[Nina-Gilbert]

Hi All

Thank you for your responses.

As mentioned, we are reviewing how we can include the full PA functionality as part of the eOrtho release. We are working with Practitioner Services on the messaging going out to sites for both the Prior Approval project and the later planned eOrtho work.

We are also reviewing the documentation we can send to sites ahead of receiving the v6.5 release to help better understand the interim solution.

We will post updates on the Exchange as well as send communications directly to your practices. If you have more questions, please feel free to email me directly on nina.gilbert@csdental.com

Kind Regards

Nina

[Riverbank]

Our Practice Principal is now convinced that this is a deliberate ploy by Carestream to ditch its Scottish practices. When we call for support it feels as though we are an anomaly rather than a practice who has spent tens of thousands of pounds with this company. It's certainly working!

[Anon]

Dear Community,

Please find attached a letter that will be sent out to all of our eDental customers which should answer some of you concerns.

Kind Regards

Jon Barton

[westport]

That came today, told me very little of any substance.

[Riverbank]

With only 2.5 working weeks to go until e-prior approval is mandatory, we're still awaiting instructions from Carestream as to how to implement the "work-around".   Indeed, the most recent communication I've had from Carestream was an entirely useless invite to attend a springboard workshop approximately 100miles away from our base in the biggest population centre in Scotland....  In England.

It is fair to say that PSD have been more pro-active in attempting to get R4 users set up on the online system, but I would REALLY appreciate an update on this from Carestream, who are the practice management system we were (not unreasonably) relying on to allow us to continue to work within the (not unexpected) new PSD requirements.

I am also looking for a FIRM commitment from Carestream as to when they will fully incorporate e-prior approval.  Our practice principal is already looking seriously at the possibility of migrating to an alternative system, and has identified 2 he will be considering.

[rktuck]

This situation is actually turning into a joke. I was on a course today where the speaker actually referenced the farce with R4 in what he thought was a humorous way, strangely enough I didn’t find it funny.

[Riverbank]

So R4 and it's lack of an integrated approach to e-prior approval is now becoming the subject of "jokes" in the dental community and we've still not had any further communication from Carestream.  I agree, it's not funny in the slightest if you're a client of theirs, but wonder what it will take to actually get any firm commitment from them.  Surely they can see this is damaging their brand reputation.

[clairec]

Hi Nina,

Thanks for you reply.

This is very interesting as I have correspondence with PSD stating that Carestream haven't yet committed to eOrtho via R4+ and orthotrac.  Can you confirm if this is the case or have you committed?

I've previously mentioned in an earlier post about ePrior approval and eOrtho.  Are we having to wait until 2019 for both to be fully integrated?  This is unacceptable due to the sheer volume of web forms that we are potentially going to have to complete.

Regards

Claire

[westport]

I am not really sure "further explanation" is what R4+ users are looking for.

As far as I am concerned this is about good customer support, something we pay dearly for and in this case  don't seem to be getting.

[rktuck]

As we understand it in our practice ePrior approval is not something that has been landed on software providers as an overnight surprise? To this end why should R4+ users wait till potentially 2019 for this issue to be resolved when other software providers seem able to get their act together to give their users a simple and on time transition to ePrior Approval? As part of our monthly support fees are we being unreasonable in expecting regular software updates that reflect the changes in how the NHS administers dental treatment? Are Carestream taking steps to expedite the integration or are we expected to wait till next year?

[Riverbank]

Hi,

I'd like to echo everything Claire has said.

As a practice, we are feeling very let down that Carestream will not be offering fully integrated e-prior approval from 1st October, despite Carestream previously having made all the right noises about being on target to meet PSD dates.  The proposed-work around will be time consuming, and open to transcription errors.  This will lead to delays in patients at R4 practices receiving treatment, as it will require dentists to personally log in to the web-portal and transcribe the proposed treatment, rather than what I assume to be a few clicks in any other Dental System.  Increased likelihood of errors will also mean increased likelihood of rejection, further delaying treatment and disadvantaging patients of practices using R4, in comparison with those whose practices use other systems.

I am looking for Carestream to address this issue as a priority.  The local area we serve has a very high number of households in SIMD 1-3, with complex dental needs, and we are required to submit a relatively large number of prior approvals.  The work-around will disadvantage those with the greatest need, and has the potential to reduce the amount of clinical time available when dentists must instead spend time on admin, further impacting on patient care.

We have used R4 since we opened 12 years ago, and have spent a small fortune in licences, upgrades, imaging equipment and support fees over that period. I feel this is an indication of the level of Carestream's commitment to their practices in Scotland, and as a practice, we need to re-evaluate whether we want to continue with Carestream if they are not able to provide the solutions that are necessary to enable us to work smoothly in a modernising NHS.