Adding a Patient to the Current Patient List

Patients are automatically added to and removed from a patient list, based on the list’s time-based and filter-based criteria. Most of the time, the patient list that is automatically generated based on this criteria is all that you need. However, sometimes a patient that you are treating is not on the patient list that you are currently using, and you will need to add them to it so that you can view their clinical data, enter charges, or otherwise manage their care. You can add patient visits to a patient list if the list’s definition allows manual additions. In addition, if for security reasons your organization wants to track why providers are adding patients to their patient lists, your administrator may require you to specify the reason for adding the patient, any time you add an existing patient to your list, or manually create a patient and/or visit and add it to your list. There are some special considerations to keep in mind when adding patients to an Assignment type of list (see Types of Patient Lists for an explanation of the different types of lists):

• When adding a patient to an Assignment list, the Add Patient function behaves as follows:
  • If you are viewing the master assignment list or the Unassigned sublist when you add the patient, the patient is added to both of these lists.
  • If you are viewing a named sublist when you add the patient (such as the “ER Gold Team”), the patient is added to the master assignment list, and is also automatically assigned to the current sublist (the “ER Gold Team”).

Each patient can have multiple encounters, or visits, at your organization. When you add a patient to a patient list, you are adding a patient/visit combination. If you add multiple visits for the same patient to a patient list, that patient may end up being listed multiple times on the patient list. If visits have the same account number, only the most recent InFacility visit with that account number is added to the patient list. See the explanation of InFacility visits in Patient List at a Glance for more information. Adding a patient visit to a patient list is a two-step process. First you search the census list to see if the patient and visit are already registered in your system. See Searching for a Patient Visit for instructions on how to search for a patient visit. After you have performed a search, you may or may not find the specific patient visit that you want in the search results. Depending on what you find, you may end up taking one of the actions below:

• If both the patient and visit are already registered, you can just add them to the patient list. See Adding an Existing Patient and Visit to the Current Patient List.
• If the patient is already registered, but their latest visit information is not (the visit for which you want to enter charges), then you can manually create a visit for the patient after you add the patient to your list. The ability to manually create visits must be enabled in your user profile. See Manually Creating a New Visit for an Existing Patient.
• If neither the patient nor the visit are registered, you can manually create the patient and their visit at the same time. The ability to manually create a patient and visit must be enabled in your user profile. See Manually Creating a New Patient and Visit.

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Searching for a Patient Visit

The first step when adding a patient visit to a list is to search the census list to see if the patient and visit are already registered in your system. The census list contains all the recent active patient visits that are registered in your healthcare organization. Some organizations are comprised of multiple facilities and therefore have a very large patient census. In this case, your system administrator may restrict the number of patient visits from which you can choose, in order to make it easier to find the patient visits you want. To make searching for patients as flexible as possible, there are two search screens that you can use:

• Patient Search: The Patient Search screen contains the most common criteria fields that you might use on a daily basis to search for a patient. At the top of the screen you can select the ADVANCED button to view some additional criteria fields that you might use only occasionally. You enter some criteria, execute a search, and then select a patient from the results. See Using the Patient Search Screen.

• Search by Patient List: This screen allows you to select any patient list (to which you have access), and then view the patients on that list. You can then select one or more patients from the list (to add to your current patient list). See Using the Search by Patient List Screen.

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Using the Patient Search Screen

This is the most common type of patient search. You just enter criteria on the Patient Search screen and then execute an immediate search based on those fields.

1. From the Patient List screen, tap Add at the bottom right of the screen. The Patient Search screen is displayed. At the top of this screen is a Search by Name or MRN field that you can use to search by patient name or medical record number (MRN). Your focus is in this field by default, and the virtual keyboard is displayed. Depending on the size of the screen, the keyboard may cover some of the other criteria fields that are listed below the Search by Name or MRN field.

You can use this Search by Name or MRN field, and/or any of the other criteria fields, to search for a patient. If you do not want to use the Search by Name or MRN field, just scroll down to expose the other criteria fields.

2. (Optional) In the Search by Name or MRN field, type all or part of the patient’s name or MRN.

You must enter at least two characters for each search criterion and you may use commas, apostrophes, and hyphens as separators. For example, you could enter “DARR MO” or “DARR,MO” to find patients whose first and last names start with DARR and MO, in any order (such as MO LLY DARR or DARR ON MO LINA). Entering an MRN such as “343456” finds any patient whose MRN starts with 343456. If you want to search for the patient based only on their name or MRN, you can tap the SEARCH button near the top of the screen or the Search icon on the virtual keypad to immediately execute the search now. Skip to step 4.

3. (Optional) Enter data in one or more of the criteria fields that are displayed just below the Search by Name or MRN field. You can also select the ADVANCED button to expose even more criteria fields that you can use. These fields use a variety of different formats, described below. For a complete description of every criteria field, see Available Search Criteria Fields.
   • If a criteria field requires that you to select a value from a pre-defined list, an Expand icon is displayed to the far right. Select the Expand icon to view the values and select one.

• If a criteria field allows you to enter your own text or numbers, instructions are shown below the field name in light gray text. Tap into the text area and start typing.
  
• Some criteria fields allow you to either select from a list of predefined values, or to enter your own text. Select the Expand icon to choose from a list of predefined values, or tap into the text area and type your own value.
  

4. Once you have completed the desired criteria fields, tap the SEARCH button near the top of the screen or the Search button on the virtual keyboard to execute the search.

A list of patient visits that match your criteria is now displayed. Review the search results and then do any of the following:

• If you see the patient visit that you want, follow the instructions in Adding an Existing Patient and Visit to the Current Patient List starting at Step 2.
• If you see the patient that you want, but not the visit, follow the instructions in Manually Creating a New Visit for an Existing Patient starting at Step 2.
• If you don’t see the patient you want, follow the instructions in Manually Creating a New Patient and Visit starting at Step 2.
• If there are too many results to look through, you can tap Back to go back to the Patient Search screen and use additional/different criteria to refine your search (go back to Step 2). If necessary, tap More and then select Clear to clear all your criteria and start over.
• If there are no patients that match your criteria, a “No patients found” message is displayed. Tap OK to close the dialog and then either:
• Try a new search (go back to Step 2), or
• Create a new patient and visit by following the instructions in Manually Creating a New Patient and Visit starting at Step 2.

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Available Search Criteria Fields

Listed below are all of the possible search criteria fields that you might encounter on the Patient Search screen, depending on how your administrator has configured it. The only field not listed here is the Search by Name or MRN field, which is described in Using the Patient Search Screen. The fields may have different labels than those listed below, since your administrator may have renamed them to use terminology that is more familiar to personnel at your organization. Once you exit the Patient Search feature and return to the Patient List, all values that you entered in the criteria fields are cleared. The only exception to this rule is the Include Past Visits search criteria field. For this one field, the value you last used (ON or OFF) is retained from one search session to another.

• Account Number: Enter an account number (also known as a visit number) to find any visits with that number.
• Appt/Admit Date/Time: Enter a date or a date range to search for a visit that was admitted or occurred on that date, or within that date range. For visit types that have admission and discharge dates (such as inpatient or ER visits), the admission date is used. For visit types that have an appointment date (such as outpatient visits), the appointment date is used. If you are searching for inpatient visits that have been discharged, or outpatient visits in the past, you must also turn on the Include Past Visits option. There are a variety of options for selecting a date or a date range:
  • Last [n] days: Select one of these options to search for visits with an admit/appointment date the last n days.
  • Add Date: Select this option to search for a visit with a specific admit/appointment date.
  • Add Date Range: Select this option to search for a visit with an admit/appointment date within a specific date range. Enter your own date range with a specific beginning and ending date.
• Birth Date: Enter a date of birth to find only patients who have that date of birth.
• Days Since Admit: Enter a number of days to find inpatient visits that were admitted or outpatient visits that occurred within that number of days. For visit types that have admission and discharge dates (such as inpatient or ER visits), the admission date is used. For visit types that have an appointment date (such as outpatient visits), the appointment date is considered to be the admission date. If you are searching for inpatient visits that have been discharged, or outpatient visits in the past, you must also turn on the Include Past Visits option. You can enter the number of days using either of these methods:
  • Tap the Expand icon to choose from a variety of pre-defined days, such as 0-1 days, 7 days, 14 days, or 30 days.
  • Or, tap the text field below the label to enter a different number, such as 5.
• Days Since Discharge: Enter a number of days to find inpatient visits that were discharged or outpatient visits that occurred within that number of days. For visit types that have admission and discharge dates (such as inpatient or ER visits), the discharge date is used. For visit types that have an appointment date (such as outpatient visits), the appointment date is considered to be the discharge date. If you are searching for inpatient visits that have a discharge date in the past, or outpatient visits in the past, you must also turn on the Include Past Visits option.
• Discharge Date: Enter a specific discharge date to find patients who were discharged on that date. Only visit types that have a discharge date (such as Inpatient or ER) are found. If you are searching for a visit with a discharge date in the past, you must also turn on the Include Past Visits option. There are a variety of options for selecting a date or a date range:
  • Last [n] days: Select one of these options to search for visits with a discharge date the last n days.
  • Add Date: Select this option to search for a visit with a specific discharge date.
  • Add Date Range: Select this option to search for a visit with a discharge date within a specific date range. Enter your own date range with a specific beginning and ending date.
• Include Past Visits: Leave this option OFF if you do not want to include visits whose end date is earlier than today’s date. If you would like to see past visits, turn this option ON.

• Location: This search criteria shows a list of facilities, with their corresponding units contained in an expandable list under the main facility. You can select an entire facility (and all the units within it), or just one or more specific units within a facility, to find only those visits within those locations. To select an entire facility (and all the units within it), tap and hold on the facility name. Only those facilities that you have permission to view are available.

• Maximum Results: (Available only in Advanced Search) Select the maximum number of matches that you want returned in the search results. If more matches than this number are found, a message displaying that fact is shown. You can then either increase the Maximum Results, or make your search criteria more specific to reduce the number of possible matches.
• Medical Service: Select one or more medical services to find visits that are booked with those services.
• Commure Pro Visit Type: Select one or more Commure Pro visit types to find only visits of those types. The visit types are set by your organization and might include types such as inpatient, outpatient, emergency room, recurring, and pre-registration.
• Provider Relationship Types: There may be several criteria fields for the various types of relationships that providers can have to patients. For example, you might see criteria fields for Admitting, Scheduled, or Attending provider relationships. Select one or more providers in any of these fields to find all visits where those providers have the specified relationship to the patient visit. When you tap into one of these fields a search screen is displayed, with two tabs labeled Selected and Search. The Search tab is selected by default and your cursor is in a Search field.
  1. Enter a few letters of the provider’s last or first name in the Search field. As you type, a list of possible matches is shown.- b. Select one or more providers from the results.
  2. (Optional) Search for another provider by clearing the Search field and entering different letters.
  3. (Optional) At any time, you can tap on the Selected tab to view the providers you have select so far.
  4. Select OK when you are finished selecting providers.
• SSN: Enter a nine digit social security number to find a patient with that SSN. You do not have to enter the dashes, they are automatically inserted for you.

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Using the Search by Patient List Screen

You might use this search screen if you know that the patient you want to add to your current patient list is already on a different patient list (whether that list is yours or another user’s). Select the patient list in question, view the patients on that list, and then select the patient(s) that you want to add to your current patient list.

1. From the Patient List screen, tap Add at the bottom right of the screen. The main Patient Search screen is displayed. Your focus is in the Search by Name or MRN field and the virtual keyboard is open.
   To close the keyboard, swipe up or down in an area of your screen where the keyboard is not displayed.
2. Tap the More button at the top of the screen and choose Search by Patient List. The Search by Patient List screen is displayed. At the top of the list is a Search field. Below it are two tabs labeled FAVORITES and ALL. The FAVORITES tab is selected by default, and all of the Patient Lists that you have marked as a Favorite are displayed.
3. Locate the patient list that has the patient you want. You can:
   • Leave the FAVORITES option selected, and then choose a favorite patient list.
   • Search for the list using the Search field at the top of the screen. Enter the list’s name, your alias for the list (alternate name), the list’s description, or the list’s owner and then select the Search button on the virtual keypad. After you select the Search button, the ALL tab is selected automatically and all of the patient lists matching your criteria are displayed. Select a patient list from these results. Once you select a patient list, all of the patients who are on that list are displayed.
4. Review the displayed patients and then do any of the following:
   • If you see the patient visit that you want, follow the instructions in Adding an Existing Patient and Visit to the Current Patient List starting at Step 2.
   • If you see the patient that you want, but not the visit, follow the instructions in Manually Creating a New Visit for an Existing Patient starting at Step 2.
   • If you don’t see the patient you want, you can either:
   • Tap Back to go back and select a different patient list (go back to Step 3), or
   • Create a new patient and visit by following the instructions in Manually Creating a New Patient and Visit starting at Step 2.

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Adding an Existing Patient and Visit to the Current Patient List

If you think the patient and visit that you want to add to the currently selected patient list are already registered in your system, perform a quick search to find them and then add them to the patient list.

1. From the Patient List screen, tap Add at the bottom right of the screen. The main Patient Search screen is displayed.
2. Search for the patient using either the main Patient Search screen or the Search by Patient List option. See Using the Patient Search Screen or Using the Search by Patient List Screen for complete instructions. A list of patients who match your criteria is displayed on the Search Results screen. For each patient, the following information is shown:
   • The patient’s name, MRN, date of birth, age, and gender.

• The patient’s most recent visit (if any) is listed next, labeled “Current/Last.” If the patient has only one more visit, that visit is listed next, labeled “Prior.” If either of these visits is already on the current patient list, a blue checkmark is shown to the right of the visit.
• If the patient has more than two visits, a row labeled Prior Visits is displayed next. Tap the Prior Visits row to see a complete list of the patient’s visits.

3. The Reason for Adding Patient(s) field may be displayed at the top of the results list, if your administrator has configured your user profile to require a reason for manually adding patients to your list. If it is present, a default response may already be selected for you. Tap the Expand icon to enter (or change) the reason you are adding the patient(s) to the current list.
4. Select the patient visit that you want to add to the current patient list.

• To add a patient visit that is listed on the Search Results screen: tap on a Current/Last or Prior visit row that is listed beneath a patient name to select it (a blue checkmark appears to the right of the visit). Then tap the ADD button at the top right of the screen.
• To add a patient and a different visit: tap Prior Visits to view the patient’s other visits, select the visit you want from the Visits screen, tap OK, and then tap ADD at the top right of the screen. The Search Results screen closes and the Patient List screen is redisplayed. A sync begins downloading the newly added patient’s information to your device.

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Manually Creating a New Visit for an Existing Patient

This feature is typically enabled only for organizations that use the Charges module. When searching for a patient to add to the currently selected patient list, you may find that the patient is already registered, but the particular visit that you want is not yet entered in the system. In this case, you can manually create a new visit for the existing patient, and then add that patient visit to the current patient list. You might need to do this so that you can enter charges for an established patient who has emergency visit or walk-in sick visit, or for a patient seen at a facility that does not send patient visits to the Commure Pro system. This feature must be enabled in your user profile before you can use it. You can create a new visit for any of the patient types listed below. The new visit takes on the same status as the patient (authenticated, verified, or non-verified):

• An authenticated patient: A patient that was registered in your source ADT/Registration system.
• A verified patient: A patient that was manually created in the Commure Pro system, and whose information has been confirmed as complete. Verified patient names have an asterisk appended to their name (for example, DARR, MOLLY*).
• A non-verified patient: A patient that was manually created in the Commure Pro system, and whose information has not yet been confirmed as complete. Non-verified patient names are enclosed in quotation marks (for example “DARR,MOLLY”). When manually creating a new visit, you must perform a quick search to find the patient to whom you want to add the visit (as well as to confirm that the visit is not already registered).

1. From the Patient List screen, tap Add at the bottom right of the screen. The Patient Search screen displays.
2. Search for the patient using either the main Patient Search screen or the Search by Patient List option. See Using the Patient Search Screen or Using the Search by Patient List Screen for complete instructions. A list of patients who match your criteria is displayed. For each patient, the following information is shown:
   • The patient’s name, MRN, date of birth, age, and gender.

• The patient’s most recent visit (if any) is listed next, labeled “Current/Last.” If the patient has only one more visit, that visit is listed next, labeled “Prior.” If either of these visits is already on the current patient list, a blue checkmark is shown to the right of the visit.
• If the patient has more than two visits, a row labeled Prior Visits is displayed next. Tap the Prior Visits row to see a complete list of the patient’s visits.

3. The Reason for Adding Patient(s) field may be listed on this screen if your administrator has configured your user profile to require a reason for manually adding patients to your list. If it is present, a default response may already be selected for you. Tap the Expand icon to enter (or change) the reason you are adding the patient(s) to the current list.
4. Identify the patient that you want to add to your patient list. If the patient does not have the specific visit that you want, you can now create a new one by first tapping on the row containing the patient’s name. The Patient Details screen is displayed and an ADD VISIT button is enabled at the top right of the screen.
5. Tap ADD VISIT. The Create Visit screen is displayed.
6. Enter information into each field.
   • Required fields are indicated by an asterisk after the field label and the text “This field is required” in red.
   • Each organization determines the fields they want to capture for manually created visits, and whether those fields are required. However, the following fields are always required when you manually create a visit: ADT Visit Type, Appt/Admit Date/Time, and Facility. Other commonly used fields are Reason for Adding Patient, Reason for Visit, Unit, Room, and Bed.
   • Some of the information you entered as search criteria on the main Patient Search screen may be carried forward onto the Create Visit screen, so that you do not have to re-type it. For example, if you used Facility or Unit in your search criteria, that information will default into the corresponding fields on the Create Visit screen. However, the information must be singular in order to be defaulted into any given field. For example, if you entered a single Facility and Unit as the Location in your search criteria, that information is defaulted into to the Facility and Unit fields on the Create Visit screen. However, if you entered multiple facilities/units, then the Facility and Unit fields are left blank.
   • In addition to defaulting the information that you entered as your search criteria, some additional fields may also be defaulted for you, as determined by your administrator. For example, the ADT Visit Type, Appt/Admit Date, Facility, or Unit fields may be defaulted for you. You can accept these defaults, or clear them and enter more accurate information.
   • See also Special Notes about Facility, Unit, Room, and Bed Fields.
7. Tap SAVE to manually create the visit. The Patient List screen is displayed and the newly created patient visit is immediately added to the current list.

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Manually Creating a New Patient and Visit

This feature is typically enabled only for organizations that use the Charges module. If you cannot find the patient you want to add to the current patient list on the census list, you can manually create the patient and their visit and add them to the patient list, all in one step. You might need to do this so that you can enter charges for a new or walk-in patient, or for a patient seen at a facility that does not send registered patients or visits to the Commure Pro system. Your administrator must enable this feature in your user profile before you can use it, and also determines whether the new patient is verified or non-verified when you create it:

• Verified patient: A patient that was manually created in the Commure Pro system, and whose information has been confirmed as complete. Verified patient names have an asterisk appended to their name (for example, DARR, MOLLY*).
• Non-verified patient: A patient that was manually created in the Commure Pro system, and whose information has not yet been confirmed as complete. Non-verified patient names are enclosed in quotation marks (for example “DARR,MOLLY”). An administrator can later review patient’s information on the Commure Pro web application and change the patient’s status to verified. When creating a new patient and visit, you enter basic demographic and visit information directly in the Commure Pro system on the Create Patient screen. Each organization determines the fields they want to capture for manually created patients and visits, and whether those fields are required. However, the following fields are always required:Last Name, First Name, ADT Visit Type, Appt/Admit Date with Time, and Facility. Other commonly used fields can include:Reason for Adding Patient, Gender, Social Security Number, Date of Birth, Reason for Visit, Unit, Room, and Bed.

If your organization has implemented Photo Registration, you may be able to take a photo of a document such as a registration form or a face sheet, and then use that information to perform a quick registration of the patient. In this case, your administrator can configure the application to default information into the required fields on the Create Patient screen so that you can skip it entirely, or only be required to fill in a few additional fields. A registration clerk can then follow up at a later time and complete the registration using information from the photo. Before manually creating a new patient and visit, it is best practice to perform a quick search to make sure the patient is not already registered in your system. However, if you are certain the patient is not yet registered, you can skip the search and go directly to manual registration. Select one of the links below to view instructions on manually creating a new patient, with or without first performing a search. If you have a registration form or face sheet in hand that you can use for Photo Registration (and that option is enabled for you), select one of the Photo Registration links.

• Manually Creating a New Patient and Visit (with Searching)
• Manually Creating a New Patient and Visit (without Searching)
• Using Photo Registration to Create a New Patient and Visit (with Searching)
• Using Photo Registration to Create a New Patient and Visit (without Searching)

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Manually Creating a New Patient and Visit (with Searching)

This feature is typically enabled only for organizations that use the Charges module. Before manually creating a new patient and visit, it is best practice to perform a quick search to make sure the patient is not already registered in your system. The instructions below assume that Photo Registration is not enabled in your user profile, or that you do not have a registration form or face sheet in hand that you can use for Photo Registration in this particular case.

1. From the Patient List screen, tap Add at the bottom right of the screen. The Patient Search screen displays.
2. Search for the patient using either the main Patient Search screen or the Search by Patient List option. See Using the Patient Search Screen or Using the Search by Patient List Screen for complete instructions. A list of patients who match your search criteria is displayed. Or, if there are no matches, the following message is displayed: “No patients found.”
3. The Reason for Adding Patient(s) field may be listed on the Patient Search results screen if your administrator has configured your user profile to require a reason for manually adding patients to your list. If it is present, a default response may already be selected for you. Tap the Expand icon to enter (or change) the reason you are adding the patient(s) to the current list.
4. Choose an option to create a new patient and visit. If a list of patients is displayed, but the patient you want is not included in the results, tap Add Patient at the bottom right of the screen. Or, if the “No patients found” dialog box is displayed, tap OK to close the dialog and then tap Add Patient

• If Photo Registration is not enabled in your user profile, the Create Patient screen is immediately displayed. Proceed to the next step.
• If Photo Registration is enabled in your user profile, the following options are displayed instead: Create Patient From Photo or Create Patient Manually. Assuming that you do not have a registration form or face sheet in hand that you can photograph, select the Create Patient Manually option to open the Create Patient screen and proceed to the next step. (Otherwise, tap the Create Patient From Photo option to perform a Photo Registration instead. See Using Photo Registration to Create a New Patient and Visit (with Searching) for instructions).

5. Review the information on the Create Patient screen.
   • Required fields are indicated by an asterisk after the field label and the text “This field is required” in red.
   • Some of the information you entered as search criteria on the main Patient Search screen may be carried forward onto the Create Patient screen, so that you do not have to re-type it. For example, whatever you entered as a search string in the main Search by Name or MRN field will default into the Last Name field. Or in another example, if you used Facility or Unit in your search criteria, that information will default into the corresponding fields as well. However, the information must be singular in order to be defaulted into any given field. For example, if you entered a single Facility and Unit as the Location in your search criteria, that information is defaulted into to the Facility and Unit fields on the Create Patient screen. However, if you entered multiple facilities/units, then the Facility and Unit fields are left blank.
   • In addition to defaulting the information that you entered as your search criteria, some additional fields may also be defaulted for you, as determined by your administrator. In some cases, a dummy name such as “Temporary Patient,” your own username, or a unique number may be defaulted into the First Name and/or Last Name fields. You can accept these defaults, clear them and enter more accurate information.
   • See also Special Notes about Facility, Unit, Room, and Bed Fields.
6. Select SAVE to manually create the patient and visit. When you return to the Patient List screen, the manually created patient and visit are sent to the server and the patient then appears on the current patient list. The patient’s name has either quotes or an asterisk, depending on its status (non-verified or verified).
7. (Optional) If the Charge Prompt after Create Visit setting on your device is turned on, you are now prompted: “Add charge for new patient?”
   • Select YES to immediately create a new charge transaction for this patient in the Charges module. The Charge Transaction screen opens with the current date defaulted as the Service Date. Complete the transaction as described in Basic Steps: Entering a New Charge Transaction.
   • Select NO to return to the Patient List screen. If the “Add charge for new patient?” prompt above does not appear after you complete a registration, select More > Settings > Charges and then set Charge Prompt after Create Visit to ON.

Settings that control this feature:Charge Prompt after Create Visit

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Manually Creating a New Patient and Visit (without Searching)

This feature is typically enabled only for organizations that use the Charges module. If you are certain the patient is not yet registered in your system, you can manually create a new patient and visit without first performing a search. The instructions below assume that Photo Registration is not enabled in your user profile, or that you do not have a registration form or face sheet in hand that you can use for Photo Registration in this particular case.

1. From the Patient List screen, tap Add at the bottom right of the screen. The Patient Search screen displays.
2. Immediately tap Add Patient at the bottom right of the screen to open the Create Patient screen (without entering any search criteria).

3. Choose an option to create a new patient and visit:
   • If Photo Registration is not enabled in your user profile, the Create Patient screen is immediately displayed. Proceed to the next step.
   • If Photo Registration is enabled in your user profile, the following options are displayed instead: Create Patient From Photo or Create Patient Manually. Assuming that you do not have a registration form or face sheet in hand that you can photograph, select the Create Patient Manually option to open the Create Patient screen and proceed to the next step. (Otherwise, tap the Create Patient From Photo option to perform a Photo Registration instead. See Using Photo Registration to Create a New Patient and Visit (without Searching)) for instructions).
4. From this point forward, the steps are these same as those used when manually creating a patient after performing a search. Go to Step 5 (under the topic entitled Manually Creating a New Patient and Visit (with Searching)) and proceed from there.

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Using Photo Registration to Create a New Patient and Visit (with Searching)

This feature is typically enabled only for organizations that use the Charges module. Before using Photo Registration to create a new patient and visit, it is best practice to perform a quick search to make sure the patient is not already registered in your system. The instructions below assume that you have a registration form or face sheet in hand that you can use for Photo Registration, and that the Photo Registration feature has been enabled in your user profile. At some organizations, Photo Registration may be the only method that is allowed for registering new patients. Please note that patients created through Photo Registration are always non-verified when they are created, regardless of how the user’s Can Add/Edit Commure Pro Patients setting is configured.

1. From the Patient List screen, tap Add at the bottom right of the screen. The Patient Search screen displays.
2. Search for the patient using either the main Patient Search screen or the Search by Patient List option. See Using the Patient Search Screen or Using the Search by Patient List Screen for complete instructions. A list of patients who match your search criteria is displayed. Or, if there are no matches, the following message is displayed: “No patients found.”
3. The Reason for Adding Patient(s) field may be listed on the Patient Search results screen if your administrator has configured your user profile to require a reason for manually adding patients to your list. If it is present, a default response may already be selected for you. Tap the Expand icon to enter (or change) the reason you are adding the patient(s) to the current list.
4. After performing a search, choose an option to create a new patient and visit. If a list of patients is displayed, but the patient you want is not included in the results, tap Add Patient at the bottom right of the screen. Or, if the “No patients found” dialog box is displayed, tap OK to close the dialog and then tap Add Patient

• If both regular and Photo Registration are allowed, the following options are now displayed:Create Patient From Patient or Create Patient Manually. If you have a registration form or face sheet in hand that you can photograph, select the Create Patient From Photo option and proceed to the next step. (If you do not have a form or face sheet in hand, select the Create Patient Manually option to manually enter the patient’s information. See Manually Creating a New Patient and Visit (without Searching) for instructions).
• If only Photo Registration is allowed the camera opens immediately.

5. Take a photograph of the registration form or face sheet. You can tap Delete to delete the image and then re-shoot the photo as many times as necessary until you have the desired image.
6. Once you have the image you want, tap the Checkmark button.

A dialog box with a Title field is displayed.

7. Tap into the Title field and enter a title for the photo (up to 100 alphanumeric characters), or leave the field blank. If you enter a title, that title will be shown on the Summary screen of the Photos module as the title of the photo. If you leave the field blank, the date/time the photo was taken will be used as the title instead, in the format of YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.
8. Tap SAVE to accept the photo. After you finish the registration process, the photo will be submitted to the server so that it can be viewed on the Physician Portal or a mobile device in the Photos module, by any user with permission to view it. Please note that the photo will not be available on the device’s camera roll.

Depending on how your user profile and the system are configured, either the Patient List or the Create Patient screen is now displayed.

• If the Patient List screen is displayed, you will see the newly created patient added to your list with a dummy name that is some combination of text (such as “Temporary Patient”), your own username, or a unique number. The registration process is now completed and you can skip the rest of the steps below.
• If the Create Patient screen is displayed, proceed to the next step.

9. Review the information on the Create Patient screen.
   • Required fields are indicated by an asterisk after the field label and the text “This field is required” in red.
   • Some or all of the information on this screen may already be completed for you, so that you need only confirm that it is accurate, and possibly fill in a few additional fields such as Gender or Date of Birth. In some cases, a dummy name such as “Temporary Patient,” your own username, or a unique number may be defaulted into the First Name and/or Last Name fields. You can accept these defaults, or clear them and retype the patient’s actual name.
   • See also Special Notes about Facility, Unit, Room, and Bed Fields.
10. Tap SAVE to manually create the patient and visit. When you return to the Patient List screen, the manually created patient and visit are sent to the server and the patient then appears on the current patient list. The patient’s name will have quotes around it to indicate its non-verified status.
11. (Optional) If the Charge Prompt after Create Visit setting on your device is turned on, you are now prompted: “Add charge for new patient?”
    • Select YES to immediately create a new charge transaction for this patient in the Charges module. The Charge Transaction screen opens with the current date defaulted as the Service Date. Complete the transaction as described in Basic Steps: Entering a New Charge Transaction.
    • Select NO to return to the Patient List screen. If the “Add charge for new patient?” prompt above does not appear after you complete a registration, select More > Settings > Charges and then set Charge Prompt after Create Visit to ON.

Settings that control this feature:Charge Prompt after Create Visit

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Using Photo Registration to Create a New Patient and Visit (without Searching)

This feature is typically enabled only for organizations that use the Charges module. If you are certain the patient is not yet registered in your system, you can use Photo Registration to create a new patient and visit without first performing a search. The instructions below assume that you have a registration form or face sheet in hand that you can use for Photo Registration, and that the Photo Registration feature has been enabled in your user profile.

1. From the Patient List screen, tap Add at the bottom right of the screen. The Patient Search screen displays.
2. Immediately tap Add Patient at the bottom right of the screen (without entering any search criteria).

• If both regular manual registration and Photo Registration are allowed, the following options are now displayed:Create Patient From Photo or Create Patient Manually. If you have a registration form or face sheet in hand that you can photograph, select the Create Patient From Photo option. (If you do not have a registration form or face sheet in hand, select the Create Patient Manually option to manually enter the patient’s information. See Manually Creating a New Patient and Visit (without Searching) for instructions).
• If only Photo Registration is allowed, the camera opens immediately (skip to next step).

3. From this point forward, the steps are the same as those used when Photo Registering a patient after performing a search. Go to Step 5 (under the topic entitled Using Photo Registration to Create a New Patient and Visit (with Searching)) and proceed from there.

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Special Notes about Facility, Unit, Room, and Bed Fields

When manually creating a new patient and visit, or when manually creating a new visit for an existing patient, the Facility and Unit fields are always present on the screen, and the Facility field is always required (Unit may or may not be required). If your organization has chosen to also include the Room and Bed fields, then these four fields must be completed in the following order:Facility, Unit, Room, and then Bed. Each field appears after the subsequent field is completed. When completing the Room and Bed fields, you might be restricted to selecting the room and bed values from a list of the rooms and beds that are associated with the facility and nursing unit. Or, you might be allowed to create new rooms or beds on the fly if the ones you want are not included in the lists. This auto-creation functionality can be enabled or disabled by your administrator. The Room and Bed fields behave differently depending on whether auto-creation is enabled or disabled.

• When auto-creation is enabled, you can either select the room and bed from a list, or type them in yourself:
  • To select a room or bed from a list, tap on the label for Room or Bed. A pop-up dialog displays a list of rooms or beds; just select a value.
  • If the room or bed you need is not on the list, just tap into the blank field below the label, and then manually type the room or bed number into the field. If you manually type the room and bed numbers yourself, once the registration is submitted to the server, the new room and bed are added to the room/bed lists for that facility and unit, and are available for future registrations from that point forward.

• When auto-creation is disabled, you can only select a room or bed from a list. Just select the field to view the list of rooms or beds, and then choose one.