Feature request: medical history tracking.

[alexei]

As I understand it, our patients should review and update their medical history at least once a year. I would like for OD to track this: have a field in patient information whose value is the date of the last update. If this is more than one year in the past, it should become red, make a popup, or somehow call attention to that fact.

[alexei]

Discounts. The program has a "5% cash discount" adjustment type, but it would be much nicer if it were calculated automatically. As I imagine it: You select the procedures you want to discount in the account screen, hit the button, and choose the discount. It then adds an adjustment of the proper type and with the proper amount.


Thanks for all your hard work!

[jordansparks]

Those are both planned features.

[Janet Century]

I am very interested in this feature too. Has it happened yet and I've missed where it is? Or what number should I vote for?

[jordansparks]

Feature requests are described at
http://www.opendental.com/manual/featurerequests.html
More formalized medical history: 511
Percentage discounts in Adjustments: 622
So no, neither of those has been done yet.

[asanders]

Jordan-

Do you have any timetable for the medical history? I have a fairly large elderly population whose meds and med histories change weekly. Possibly integrate it with lexicomp for an up to date list of available meds? I hate to say it, but eaglesoft has a pretty decent med history. Might be worth copying.

[jordansparks]

If we're going to copy it, we'll at least need a few screenshots.

Some medical history improvements were made recently. How are those working out for you? Medications now have start and stop dates so that you can filter out the inactive meds. Problems have status and start/stop dates. And allergies can be set inactive so that they won't show.

I was wrong about the Feature request number for date of last medical history update. It's #1971. Even though it has zero votes, it's an obvious improvement that we wouldn't ignore. But we can't give timetables for anything because they would be inaccurate 100% of the time.

[asanders]

The changes are certainly an improvement, but the difficulty is the interface - how we input the data. I've said it before, but I think an electronic version of a health history that utilizes check boxes would be wonderful. Just like the patient demographic/information form that can be filled out via webforms/kiosk.

The issue I find with an open ended health history - i.e. "Please list any medical conditions that you may have" - is that people often leave conditions off the form. I find that we have a much more accurate health history when a list of common conditions is supplied to the patient.

If it could be made to function like the patient info form, that would be great. Meaning the patient info form can be used to add/change the database, but it can also be populated from the database. We use the patient info form that is populated from the database everyday to confirm or change demographic info.

Just my ideas, which may not be worth much.

[jordansparks]

That's #1268, and it's VERY popular. Currently 5th from the top.

[SherryR]

We have simply made a up a procedure code called 'Med Hx', and then added it into the recall box on the patient information page,giving it a 12 month interval. It works great as a reminder when the medical history shold be updated. It pops up red when due, gets included automatically in the patients recall appts when the time comes that it needs to be done.

[asanders]

That's what we are currently doing as well. The issue for me, from a medico-legal standpoint, is that I think it's important to have previous med histories archived. It's not like demographics where I'm only concerned about the most recent data.

I think there is a ton of potential here. Personally, a form that utilizes checkboxes for conditions/diseases, combined with lexicomp for medications would be the easiest for patients and staff. Every time it gets changed, the previous med history should be archived, IMHO. I may be wrong, but I don't think open dental currently archives med histories. I simply find that I get a more accurate history when providing a list of conditions versus an open ended history. Like the difference in taking a multiple choice test versus fill in the blank.

Oh well, in due time.

[openwide]

What about a "Save to Images' type feature like the tooth chart. Open Dental could have a button that would automatically put the current med hx into a report type format and log it into the image module. When you update the med hx you would just hit the button to archive it. Then you have an archived list of med hxs in the image module in a nice report layout.

Also if your looking for signatures the button (or a different button) could generate a report of the current med hx for the doctor & patient to review with the ability to sign at the bottom.

[SherryR]

We have made up a 'sheet' for our medical history forms, which goes into the kiosk,and although we do have to print it out for each patient so they can fill it out, (hopefully someday we'll get rid of that little 'problem'with a tablet or some nice little gadget!) Anyway, we then scan it into the patients images, in a section that we have created named 'MedHx'. It works well for us !

[jordansparks]

Feature 1268, importable problems, allergies, and meds, is done. That will make kiosk and web forms more useful for medical histories.

[enamelrod]

Is there a way to see and vote for request outside of going through the od program?

[jordansparks]

No, the only way to see and vote for reqeusts is from within OD.

[Pruce Dental]

Will the new importable medical history problems, allergies and meds work exactly like importing registration forms?...is it all done on the same screen?....will it simply import drug names or will there be a drop down list of drugs to pick from?

[jordansparks]

Patient registration forms and medical histories are two distinct kinds of forms. The import process is identical to the current process for importing registration forms. Problems and allergies are based on checkboxes. Medications are more complex, and involve a human during the import process to decide which medication name to use. It also nicely prefills the checkboxes and medications on the terminal for recall appointments, which the patient can then edit. It can't prefill on the web forms for security reasons.