Updates and utilities

[doctom4300]

I sent the email below to softdentsupport@csdental.com. I got an reply back telling me to make an appointment to schedule the update. I scheduled that for a couple weeks out, and replied that I needed to know if I should do the update first or run the utilities first. I got a reply to that telling me to discuss it during the appointment. I replied a few minutes ago saying that I would like an answer before the appointment so that I don't have to hang on hold while the tech looks into that. While waiting for that reply, I thought I'd ask here in case anyone either at Carestream or from another office that uses SoftDent will know the answer. Here is my original email:

We have a number of things we need to get done within SoftDent. I'm looking for advice on how to do them and the order in which to do them.

Update SoftDent: we have version 19.0.0. I've been told that the newer version will fix the issues with the short call list. I have the instructions for updating SoftDent, I just don't know if I should do this step first, or one of the other steps below first.

Get the latest ADA codes into SoftDent (our fee schedule and all the blue books). Again, I have the instructions from the Carestream Exchange on the utility to run, but I don't know which order to run things in.

Force a refresh of our fee schedule and allowance tables into all blue books. Is there a utility for this? Will this affect treatment plans?

Replace two codes that had been improperly used in the past with the correct codes (without modifying the $ amounts). I believe there is a utility for this, but I can't seem to find the details now. I'm sure they are staring me in the face...

Please let me know how to do these steps and the order in which to do them. The office is closed on Fridays, and I will come in on a Friday to do these things while not having to worry about interrupting production.

[bccarestreamrep]

Update SoftDent: we have version 19.0.0. I've been told that the newer version will fix the issues with the short call list. I have the instructions for updating SoftDent, I just don't know if I should do this step first, or one of the other steps below first.

           --Feel free to perform the update first before worrying about the below items. Yes, v19.0.1 fixes the Short Call list not generating defect for sure. However, there is a defect in v19.0.1 regarding clinical notes references field being blank and a large window compressing all of the fields.

Get the latest ADA codes into SoftDent (our fee schedule and all the blue books). Again, I have the instructions from the Carestream Exchange on the utility to run, but I don't know which order to run things in.

              -- The 2021 CDT Update can take place following your SoftDent update (if you update). This is a very simple download and install on your server. 

Force a refresh of our fee schedule and allowance tables into all blue books. Is there a utility for this? Will this affect treatment plans? 

               -- Yes, you can actually do this from within the SoftDent software under System>Fees Maintenance>Update Fee Schedule. Allowance table amounts will not be affected by any sort of fee schedule update since one attaches to patients and one attaches to ins. plans. However, any updates to allowance tables should update bluebooks if those allowance tables are correctly attached to plans.

Replace two codes that had been improperly used in the past with the correct codes (without modifying the $ amounts). I believe there is a utility for this, but I can't seem to find the details now. I'm sure they are staring me in the face...

               --There is a utility for this, yes, but it will only find and replace codes that are considered production codes. Codes that are payment/adj. codes will not be affected by this utility.

[doctom4300]

"Replace two codes that had been improperly used in the past with the correct codes (without modifying the $ amounts). I believe there is a utility for this, but I can't seem to find the details now. I'm sure they are staring me in the face...

               --There is a utility for this, yes, but it will only find and replace codes that are considered production codes. Codes that are payment/adj. codes will not be affected by this utility."

What is the name of this utility? How do I run it?

[doctom4300]

               --There is a utility for this, yes, but it will only find and replace codes that are considered production codes. Codes that are payment/adj. codes will not be affected by this utility."

What is the name of this utility? How do I run it?

[bccarestreamrep]

Once you're given the exe file that belongs in your SoftDent folder, you can run it yourself. The file is usually called UpdateBBWAllowanceTable.exe and should always be run from within your SoftDent folder.

[doctom4300]

"Force a refresh of our fee schedule and allowance tables into all blue books. Is there a utility for this? Will this affect treatment plans? 

               -- Yes, you can actually do this from within the SoftDent software under System>Fees Maintenance>Update Fee Schedule. Allowance table amounts will not be affected by any sort of fee schedule update since one attaches to patients and one attaches to ins. plans. However, any updates to allowance tables should update bluebooks if those allowance tables are correctly attached to plans."

Updating the allowance table does not seem to change any bluebooks. I've added a code to the allowance tables, that code does not appear in any bluebooks unless I manually add it (or I can unlink the allowance table to clear the bluebook and relink it to recreate the bluebook).

Is there a utility to get new codes into existing bluebooks?

[bccarestreamrep]

In that case, yes we have what we call a "standalone" utility that can handle that. This is not found within SDUtils.exe.

[doctom4300]

Is that a utility I can run myself, or do I need someone from CareStream to run it?

[tshaw]

@bccarestreamrep or @trankin can you assist with this?