Assignment lists are a type of patient list designed to support team-based workflows.
Assignment lists are a type of patient list designed to support team-based workflows. Assignment lists are used to share a pool of patients among providers or teams of providers. An Assignment list has the same properties as a List or View, but also has sublists including an Unassigned sublist. An Assignment list is composed of the following list and sublists:
Master assignment list which contains the entire pool of patients based on the criteria of the Assignment list
Unassigned sublist which displays only the patients not assigned to another sublist
Sublist(s) created by the list owner where providers can assign patients
A provider can add or remove patients to/from an Assignment list including sublists, as long as the list’s definition allows it.A patient may be on multiple Assignment lists. For example a critical patient may be taken care of by both a pulmonary team and a cardiology team. A patient may also be on up to two sublists under an Assignment list (a Primary sublist and a Secondary sublist). For more information on managing sublists, see Adding and Removing Sublists.For patient list functionality that is common to Assignments, Views, and Lists see About Patient Lists.
An Assignment list is a flexible type of patient list that allows you to share a pool of patients among providers and reassign these patients between its sublists as often as is needed. This can be especially useful if you need to, for example, change the attending provider for a patient on a daily basis. An Assignment list consists of a master Assignment list, an Unassigned sublist, and any other sublist you wish to create to use. An Assignment list may have a set of Primary sublists and Secondary sublists, allowing a patients to be included on two sublists simultaneously.
You create a master Assignment list and its sublists using the Create new patient list wizard as follows:
Select Patient List tab and then select Actions menu, located at the top of the Patient List area, to display the drop-down list of available functions.
Select Create a Patient List from the Actions drop-down list.The Create new Patient List wizard displays using the System Default List template. However, if you also have a Department template available, you will see a dialog box asking you to select the default template to use when creating your new Assignment list. Select the desired template, and then click OK to launch the Create new patient list wizard.
Enter a descriptive name (50 character limit) for the Assignment list in the Name field of the Overview tab that will easily identify the contents of your Assignment list. This will be the name for your master assignment list that will display the entire pool of patients and will display as part of the Unassigned sublist name. For example, if you have a team of Hospitalists, enter Hospitalists as the name if you are creating an Assignment list that contains the pool of patients that this team would provide coverage for. The name you enter is what will display for the Assignment list for other users (when shared) when they search for it. Optionally, you can also:
Add an Alias name which is a private label of your Assignment list and will display in your Patient List drop-down instead of the entered Name. The Alias name will also display as part of the Unassigned sublist name instead of the master Assignment list name.
Enter a more descriptive, explanatory information using the Description text box (250 character limit).
Enable Account Based Infacility Calculation Type controls whether the patient list uses the “account-based InFacility” logic (a value of Yes) or the “most recent InFacility visit” logic (a value of No). Your system administrator will determine which type of logic is best for your organization and set a default value for this field. When creating a new patient list, use the default value and do not change it.
The account-based InFacility logic is available in releases 9.2.0.2.31 and later.
Verify that the Assignment list is correctly favorited. Your Assignment list is marked a Favorite so it will appear in your Patient List drop-down. You can choose to do the following:
Deselect the Favorite icon if you do not want this Assignment list to appear in your drop-down of available patient lists. For example, if you are strictly an administrator (not a provider with administrator privileges) creating this Assignment list to share with a team of providers, you would not need to add this Assignment list to your Patient List drop-down as you are not providing care for these patients.
Provide a reason for favoriting the Assignment list if the Reason for Favoriting drop-down is displayed. If Reason for Favoriting is displayed, you must specify why you are marking this Assignment list as a favorite by selecting a reason from the drop-down. This field only displays if you have the user Patient List preference Require Reason for Favoriting a Patient List enabled.
Favorite the Assignment list for other users if the Favorite for Others field is available. Search and select the individual users, departments of users, or facilities of users. If you are favoriting the Assignment list for other users, the selected reason will also be used for why it is favorited for those users.
This field is only available to users with Level 2 access or higher, and you must have the Can Favorite for others preference enabled to have the Favorite for Others field. Any selected users, departments, or facilities must also be given View permissions under the Permissions tab.
Select Assignment as the Type for your patient list.The Enable Secondary Assignment and Assignment Sub Lists sections display. By default, Enable Secondary Assignment is set to No, and the Unassigned sublist listed.
(Optional) An Assignment list can have a primary set of sublists and a secondary set of sublists. If you would like to have primary and secondary sublists for the Assignment list, select Yes next to Enable Secondary Assignment. The Primary and Secondary options display. Use these options to select which set of sublists you want to edit under the Assignment Sub Lists section.
In the Assignment Sub Lists section, add the sublists that you wish to include as a part of your Assignment list by clicking the sublist Add button and then entering the name for the sublist in the blank text field for each sublist. For example, if there were four providers using this Assignment list, you could enter the name of each provider for the sublists.If you need to remove one of the sublists, you can click Remove next to the sublist name.By default, the Switch to new patient list upon save checkbox is checked. This allows you to switch immediately to this list upon creation. Uncheck this box if you don’t wish to switch to the new patient list after creating it.
(Optional) If Secondary Assignment is enabled and you want to add Primary or Secondary sublists, select the option you want next to the Enable Secondary Assignment option, and then repeat previous step.
Once you have entered a name for your Assignment list and added your sublists, click the Next> button to proceed to the Time Criteria tab, and review the list of visit types and each visit type’s time criteria for adding or removing a visit of that type. You can choose to make the following changes:
If you wish to include or not include a visit type from the list, you can check (include) or uncheck (not include) the visit type.
If you wish to change the time criteria for adding or removing visits for a visit type, you can click Edit next to each InFacility visit type (for example, Inpatient or ER) or scheduled visit types (for example, Outpatient) to change the time criteria that the system will use to add a patient visit to your patient list, and then remove the visit.
If you have at least one visit type selected with Add Patients = On Admit/Scheduled Date or N Days before Admit Date and Remove Patients = Never and no Filter is selected, you will get a message stating that you need to refine your time criteria for visits or add a filter to prevent creating an assignment list that is too large.
Click the Next> button to proceed to the Filter tab if you wish to set a filter. Select Add A Filter , and then select one of filters from the Filter on drop-down. Make the appropriate filter option selections and then click Add .
Click the Next> button to proceed to the Display tab if you wish to change the visual layout of the Assignment list. The Display template defines the specific demographic fields that are included in the patient list, and how those fields are organized (in rows and columns). You can drag and drop new fields into the template, you can remove fields from the template, and you can add or remove columns and rows.
Click Next> to proceed to the Permissions tab when the desired layout of the Assignment list is completed. The Permissions tab contains the settings that allows you to share your Assignment list with the team of providers. By default, your permissions are set to allow no other users to view, manage, or add/remove patients to/from your Assignment list. For an Assignment list, it is recommended that you give view and add/remove patients permissions to the team of providers who are providing care.
For administrators only, any users, departments, or facilities that you added to the Favorite for Others field in the Overview tab must be given View permissions.
(For administrators only) Proceed to the Users tab to create your Assignment list for another user and not for yourself. An Assignment list should be created for one list owner only and all other users should have view and add/remove patients permissions. Only create an Assignment list for another user if that user needs to be the list owner, and you (administrator) should not be the list owner. If you do not need to create the Assignment list for a user, proceed to the next step.
Click Next> to proceed to the Summary tab, and then review all of the settings for your Assignment list. You should also review the Preview tab for Web and iOS (if applicable) to determine that your Assignment list content is correct.
Click Create My List to create your Assignment list.You are returned to the Patient List tab. If you select the Patient List drop-down, you will see the master Assignment list and its sublists displayed.
After an Assignment list is created, you can edit the properties of an Assignment list if you are the list owner, have manage rights to the Assignment list, or are a Level 1 or Level 0 administrator. When you select an Assignment list to edit, you can edit the master Assignment list as well as rename, remove, or add sublists. When you select a sublist to edit, a limited number of edits are available for that sublist. You can change any property of the Assignment list except change what type of list it is. Once Assignment list is created, it is always an Assignment list.
Once you have your master assignment list and its sublists created, you can reassign your patients between the different sublists from the Patient List tab or from the Assignment tab. If you are working from within the Patient List tab, and you wish to reassign a patient, you can do this using the Reassign Patient function from the Actions menu. However if you wish to reassign several patients, it is recommended you use the Assignment tab which is designed to quickly reassign several patients at a time using drag and drop between the sublists (see Reassigning Patients in the Assignment Tab for more information).From the Patient List tab, the master Assignment list will always display all the patients. The sublists will only display the patients that are assigned to them except for the Unassigned sublist which has the patients waiting to be assigned to the other sublists. All patients start out on the Unassigned sublist when they are added to an Assignment list (and if Secondary Assignment is enabled for an Assignment list, then all patients are also added to the Unassigned(2) sublist). You can reassign patients from the master Assignment list or from any of the sublists including the Unassigned lists. You cannot reassign patients to the master Assignment list as it always has all the patients.
To reassign a patient from the Patient List tab:
Select the master Assignment list or sublist from the Patient List drop-down (located between the Actions menu and the Refresh button above the Patient List area).
Select the patient that you wish to reassign.
Click the Actions menu above the Patient List area and select Reassign Patient under the This Patient List heading.The Reassign patient window displays with the patient details, the current sublist where the patient is assigned, and the list of available sublists where the patient can be reassigned with the number of patients currently assigned to each sublist in parenthesis next to it.
If Secondary Assignment is enabled for the Master Assignment list you select, or you select a sublist that is either a Primary or Secondary sublist, then the patient can only be reassigned to the same type of sublist (another Primary or Secondary sublist).
Select the sublist where you want the patient reassigned, and then click the Reassign button.You are returned to the Patient List tab. If you reassigned the patient from the master Assignment list, you will not see any changes to the list. However, if you reassigned the patient from any of the sublists, that patient will no longer display on the sublist.
The Assignment tab was designed to allow providers to view the patient assignments for their Assignment list and then quickly reassign patients to other providers. Once an Assignment list and its sublists are created, you can use the Assignment tab to view all the patient assignments for a specific Assignment list and its sublists, or just the patients for some of the sublists.To view additional details about a patient, click the Patient Details icon displayed to the right of each patient, which opens the standard patient details screen. By default, the link selected is Patient Detail.
To view an Assignment list:
Select the Assignment tab.
Select an Assignment list from the Assignment List drop-down by either:
Choosing a favorited Assignment list from the drop-down and proceed to Step 5, or
If the list of favorites is long and requires scrolling, use the Filter field to enter keywords to narrow down the list.
Clicking the search… link to search and find the Assignment list if you cannot find the Assignment list in the list of favorites and proceed to next step.
Enter any combination of the following search criteria in the Search for patient list(s) window:
Select a department from the Department drop-down to display Assignment lists where the “owner” is in the selected department. You can display results for just this Department by clicking Search on the right side of the window, or you can further refine the results by adding an Owner and/or Search term.
Enter the list owner’s name in the Owner text box to display Assignment lists where the defined user is the owner. As you type, it will automatically select the desired user from the search list unless there are multiple selections available. If there are multiple selections displayed, select the correct owner. You can display results for just this owner by clicking Search on the right side of the window, or you can further refine the results by adding a Department and/or Search term.
Enter descriptive text about the list(s) you want to find in the Search text box to display Assignment lists based on the following patient list properties: Name of the Assignment list, current user’s alias name, or information in either the Description or Views to Include field. As you type, lists matching your search criteria begin to display after you type four characters.
The search results are displayed below the search criteria. You will see the Name, Owner, and Description columns available for each patient list. Optionally, you can change the display of columns as needed.
Select the Assignment list, and then click Select Patient List button. You are returned to the Assignment tab.
Any Assignment list that you select will display in the Assignment tab but it will not be added to your list of favorites. You must favorite the Assignment list for it to be displayed in the Assignment List drop-down.
(Optional) If Secondary Assignment is enabled for the list, click the Lists to Display drop-down and select Primary or Secondary to display those sublist options.
Click the Lists to Display drop-down and check the sublists that you wish to display.
Sublists that contain patients are shown in bold font.
The master Assignment List shows all patients on all sublists, and it can be selected from the Lists to Display drop-down menu.
As you select a sublist, it will display below the Lists to Display drop-down in a column with any assigned patients. As you select more sublists, more columns are added for each sublist with their assigned patients.To toggle the sort order of a list, click the sort caret next to the column header.You can change the way sublist columns display to optimize the available screen space.If you wish to reassign patients between the sublists, see Reassigning Patients in the Assignment Tab for more information.
The Assignment tab allows providers to add, remove, or reassign patients to other providers who share the same Assignment list.
To add a patient to a list, select Actions > Add Patient(s) from the Assignment list. This opens the Add patient(s) to your patient list window, where you can select patients to add.
To remove a patient from a list, select Actions > Remove Patient(s) from the Assignment list. This opens the Remove patient window, where you can select patients to remove.
Reassigning patients to other providers is done by moving patients from one sublist to another as follows:
Select the Assignment tab, then select the Assignment list you want to view from the Assignment List drop-down.
(Optional) If Secondary Assignment is enabled for the list, click the Lists to Display drop-down and select Primary or Secondary to display those sublist options.
Click the Lists to Display drop-down and check all the sublists to view the patient assignment.As you select a sublist, it will display below the Lists to Display drop-down in a column with any assigned patients. As you select more sublists, more columns are added for each sublist with their assigned patients.You can change the way sublist columns display to optimize the available screen space.
Select the patient(s) from the sublist that you want to reassign. The patient(s) will highlight as you select them to indicate that they are selected. For example, you could select two patients in the Unassigned sublist.
You can search for patients by typing part of the Name or Location into the Search for patient field, in the top-right corner of the screen. You must enter at least three characters in the field. Matching characters are highlighted in the visible lists.
To select all patients in a sublist, click the Select All button located at the top of the sublist column. To deselect the patient(s), click the patient name(s) or click the Select None button to remove all selected patients.
With the mouse cursor held over the sublist of the selected patient(s), press and hold the mouse selection button (usually left button) and then drag the selected patient(s) to the destination sublist. Sublists will be highlighted with a green border as the cursor moves over them, showing which list the patients will be reassigned to when the mouse is released. Drop (release the mouse button) the selected patient(s) into the destination sublist. The reassigned patients will highlight in green to indicate that they were the last reassigned patients.While a reassigned patient(s) is still highlighted, you can undo your last action by clicking Undo in the top-right corner of the window. The reassigned patient(s) return to their original list.This highlight will disappear when the screen is refreshed or another patient is reassigned.
Drag and drop patients to other sublists as needed by repeating Step 5 and Step 6 until you are done with all patient reassignments.
To add a patient from a list, click the Patient Details icon to the right of the patient you wish to add.This opens the Patient Detail window. To add this patient to the Assignment list, click the Add To Patient List button at the bottom of the window.
Sublists of a master Assignment list can be added, removed, and renamed, as long as a user has manage permissions for the list.An Assignment list can also be setup to enable two sets of sublists under the master Assignment list. This allows patients on the master Assignment list to be assigned to a Primary sublist and a Secondary sublist simultaneously. This may be useful in retaining a patient on the Primary sublist for a particular physician while simultaneously assigning the patient to a Secondary sublist for the physician who is performing weekend coverage.
Click the Patient List tab, and then select the master Assignment list or sublist from the Patient List drop-down (located between the Actions menu and the Refresh button above the Patient List area).
Click the Actions drop-down list and select Edit, under Manage This Patient List.The Edit Patient List wizard opens with the Overview tab displayed. See Understanding the Patient List Wizard for information on the functionality of the wizard.
(Optional) Next to the setting Enable Secondary Assignment, select Yes to enable the Primary and Secondary options.
(Optional) Select either Primary or Secondary to specify which type of sublist you want to add.The Assignment Sub Lists section displays the Unassigned sublist, and any other sublist that has been created.
In the Assignment Sub Lists section, click Add and then enter the name for the sublist in the blank text field.For example, if there were four providers using this Assignment list, you could enter the name of each provider for the sublists.
Click the Patient List tab, and then select the master Assignment list or sublist from the Patient List drop-down (located between the Actions menu and the Refresh button above the Patient List area).
Click the Actions drop-down list and select Edit, under Manage This Patient List.The Edit Patient List wizard opens with the Overview tab displayed. See Understanding the Patient List Wizard for information on the functionality of the wizard.
(Optional) Next to the setting Enable Secondary Assignment, select Yes to enable the Primary and Secondary options.
(Optional) Select either Primary or Secondary to specify which type of sublist you want to remove.The Assignment Sub Lists section displays the Unassigned sublist, and any other sublist that has been created.
You cannot remove the Unassigned sublist.
In the Assignment Sub Lists section, click Remove next to the sublist name you want to remove.A confirmation windows displays asking if you are sure you want to delete the sublist.
Select Yes to delete, or No to cancel the deletion.
Click the Patient List tab, and then select the master Assignment list or sublist from the Patient List drop-down (located between the Actions menu and the Refresh button above the Patient List area).
Click the Actions drop-down list and select Edit, under Manage This Patient List.The Edit Patient List wizard opens with the Overview tab displayed. See Understanding the Patient List Wizard for information on the functionality of the wizard.
(Optional) Next to the setting Enable Secondary Assignment, select Yes to enable the Primary and Secondary options.
(Optional) Select either Primary or Secondary to specify which type of sublist you want to rename.The Assignment Sub Lists section displays the Unassigned sublist, and any other sublist that has been created.
You cannot rename the Unassigned sublist.
In the Assignment Sub Lists section, click in the text field for your sublist name you want to edit, and then make the needed text changes.
Disabling Secondary Assignments for a Master Assignment List
If a master Assignment list has Secondary Assignments enabled, and has both Primary and Secondary sublists created, you can disable Secondary Assignments and reset the Assignment list to having just one set of sublists. Note that any existing Secondary sublists and patients assignments will be lost if Secondary Assignments are disabled (this does not affect the master Assignment list nor its primary sublists).
Click the Patient List tab, and then select the master Assignment list or sublist from the Patient List drop-down (located between the Actions menu and the Refresh button above the Patient List area).
Click the Actions drop-down list and select Edit, under Manage This Patient List.The Edit Patient List wizard opens with the Overview tab displayed. See Understanding the Patient List Wizard for information on the functionality of the wizard.
Next to the setting Enable Secondary Assignment, select No to disable the Primary and Secondary options.The Primary and Secondary options are removed, and only the primary sublists are retained.
Settings are available to control how sublists display on the Assignment screen. Changing these settings can optimize the available screen space by showing as many of the selected sublists in a single view as the screen allows. Options include:
Displaying sublists in one row across the screen or in two rows.
Displaying just the patient name in the sublist or the patient name, their location, and their sublist assignment.
To change how sublists display:
Click Settings in the top-right corner of the Assignment screen.The Settings windows displays.
Edit the displays settings to change how the sublist columns display in your view, and then click OK.
# Display Rows: This setting lets you control how many rows are used to display the selected lists. By default, One is selected and all selected lists are displayed in one row across the screen. When Two is selected, sublists are displayed in two rows when enough have been selected for display that they do not fit on the screen.
Display: This setting controls the level of detail to display for the lists on the Assignment screen.
Name and Location only displays each list with the Name and Location columns (and Sublist Assignment column, if enabled).
Patient List Display displays each list using the current Patient List display settings. When Patient List Display is selected, the Show Only Name Column for Displayed Sublists setting becomes unavailable.
Show Only Name Column for Displayed Sublists: By default, sublists include a Name and Location column. If Secondary Assignment is enabled for a Master Assignment list, then an additional column displays showing the Sublist Assignment (Primary or Secondary). This setting controls if all of the available columns are displayed, or if only the Name column is displayed. When this setting is Yes, the Location column (and Sublist Assignment column, if enabled) is hidden and only the Name column displays. This setting applies to all visible sublists.
The Location column (and Sublist Assignment column, if enabled) is still displayed for the master Assignment list and the Unassigned list.
These settings are remembered the next time you access the Assignment tab.Clicking Cancel closes the window without saving any changes.
All or a subset of sublists of an assignment list can be printed from the Assignment tab. The Print button at the top right of the Assignment screen displays a Print Preview window, which allows you to print all the selected sublists.If the sublist contains no patients, a pop-up message displays: “There are no patients to print.” with a single OK button that closes the pop-up.The report title is the name of the master assignment list with the total number of patients on it. Each selected sublist displays as a two-column table, with the sublist name and number of patients as the column header. One column displays the patient names and the other displays the location.Only patient name and location are shown on these printed lists, which do not include detailed patient information.If Secondary Assignment is enabled for the list, click the Lists to Display drop-down and select Primary or Secondary to display those sublist options.
To print all selected lists:
Click Print at the top-right of the Assignment screen.The Print Preview window displays.
Click Print , which displays when the cursor is moved over the Print Preview.
The system allows you to record and report on the number of patients that were on a sublist over time. This allows you to see whether the lists are being balanced properly, to report on how many patients specific teams and users are responsible for at a time on average, and track the number of patients on each list over time. Each day at a specific time, the system records a snapshot of the number of patients on each patient list and sublist. The time of the snapshot for each day is controlled by a system level setting. To change the value, contact your Commure Pro representative.Whether a user can see the patient list count report is based on the Patient List preference Access to Assignment Patient List Count Report. The preference is available for all users, and can be edited by those with Level 0, 1, and 2 and edit user permissions. This preference is also available in System Defaults and Bulk User Edit.This field can be set to Yes or No (the default is No).
If set to Yes, the user will be able to view the report for any Assignment List they have permission to view.
If set to No, no patient list count report is viewable to the user.
Depending on the permission, the report will be available as a Report subtab under the Assignment tab. The report displays data for an assignment list. The top of the screen displays a drop-down field to select an assignment list. When you select an assignment list, a checkbox list allows you to select sublists on the selected Assignment List to include in the report. A Refresh button at the top right of the Report window allows you to refresh the display.The Timeframe drop-down menu determines the report view to be displayed. Select from the following:
Last 7 days (the default when the report is first loaded)
Daily
Monthly
To print any of the displayed reports, click the Print icon in the upper-right corner of the report screen.Settings that control this feature:
This report shows the total number of patients on all included sublists and the master list for the past 7 days, as well as a total for the time period and a daily average. The title of the report is “Patient List Count – Last 7 Days.”The report displays one column for the master assignment list and a column for each included sublist. There is a row for each date that has data within the last 7 days, in chronological order. Each row contains the total number of patients that were on that list on that date, at the time the snapshot was taken. Two rows at the bottom of each sublist or assignment list column show the Daily Average for all included dates, and the total unique patient visits (based on visit number) for all included dates and lists.
This report shows the total number of patients on all included sublists and the master list for each date in a selected month, as well as a list total for the entire month and a daily average. The title of the report is “Patient List Count – Total per Date,” and the subtitle is the selected month and year, for example January 2025.The report displays one column for the master assignment list and a column for each included sublist. There is a row for each date that has data in the selected month, in chronological order. Each row contains the total number of patients that were on that list on that date. Two rows at the bottom of each sublist or assignment list column show the Daily Average for all dates in the selected month, and the total unique patient visits (based on visit number) for all dates in the selected month.Available fields for selection are Year and Month, and these are required values for running the report. These contain a value for every year/month that has snapshot data, and the data in the report is based on the selected values. The default values are the most recent year and month with data when this view is loaded. The values in Month are based on the selected value for Year, and if the Year value is changed, the Month value resets to no value. If there are values in both fields, the report refreshes if either value is changed.
This report shows the total and average number of patients on all included sublists, and the master list for each month in a selected year, as well as a total and a daily average for the entire year. The title of the report is “Patient List Count – Average per Month,” and the subtitle is the selected year.The report displays one column for the master assignment list and a column for each included sublist. There are two rows for each month in the selected year, showing Daily Average and Total # Patients, listed in chronological order.
Daily Average is the average number of patients per day on a given sublist or master assignment list.
Total # Patients is the total unique patient visits (based on visit number) on a given sublist or master assignment list for the given month.
Two rows at the bottom of each sublist or assignment list column show the Daily Average for all months in the selected year, and the total unique patient visits (based on visit number) for the selected year.Select the Year in the drop-down field on the top right of the report. The data in the report is based on the selected value. The default value is the most recent year with data when this view is loaded.
