Happy Tuesday!
It’s time again for Tech Tuesday; a weekly series of helpful hints, tips, and workflows that you can use to improve your skills in Accuro®EMR.
A few weeks ago we had a gentleman approach us because he got a new cell phone and it received a fax from a clinic using Accuro. The fax number was incorrect and so we responded by letting all the clinics know in the province to check their address books to ensure this guy did not receive any more faxes to his cell phone.
That prompted this Tech Tuesday on the Provider Address Book.
Firstly, and most importantly, Optimed does not have access to or the listing to update your address book. You are on your own with keeping it up to date and accurate. ALT-F2 is the shortcut key to access the Address Book. As a company, Optimed has a tough time finding this information as the College tends to protect it from uncontrolled distribution which makes sense. There are some provinces that offer regular Provider list updates that you as a clinic or physician can be sent, however, important to note that these lists are not guaranteed to be perfect either. So, loading a Provider list is not the perfect solution because you would be over writing all the corrections you have been making since your last update. Most clinics simply do not update and maintain the list themselves.
By province, here are your options in getting College List Updates of Physicians:
British Columbia
BC can send you a CD if you contact the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Once you receive the CD, plug it in to the computer, and then you can update records from it one Provider at a time. Do this from the Providers Section (F2) by clicking the "Lookup Providers" button. Browse for the file on the CD, and Open. Optimed can run a batch import for you but this will wipe out your current list and is only recommended if your address book is so wrong you want to start over.
Alberta
There is no update list ability in Alberta at this time.
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan has an update function built in to Accuro. It over writes your current list, but is an option. Firstly you need to be logged in as an administrator to the machine that you submit billing from. Then go to Tools > Update > Update Providers. Follow the on screen directions. Warning, this over writes your directory.
Manitoba
Manitoba eHealth sends Optimed physician directory updates which are then posted for clinics to download, like a Provider registry of sorts. Do this from the Providers Section (F2) by clicking the "Lookup Providers" button. You can then search the repository and update your records one at a time. There is a batch import if you log on as a administrator and go to Tools > Admin Tools > Import Physician Registry. Follow the on screen instructions from there. Warning, this over writes your directory.
Ontario
There is no update list ability in Ontario at this time.
The reason for the variation between all the provinces largely has to do with access to the list and if the list includes the physician ID numbers. For provinces that do not distribute these, updating lists is not possible because database systems like Accuro rely on ID numbers to match records for reliable updates to avoid duplicates.
So this might be good news for some, bad news for others, and perhaps indifferent to most. Either way I hope you found it informative.
Stay tuned for next week’s Tech Tuesday!
Check out the Help menu for a link to previous Tech Tuesdays (Accuro 5.5 or Accuro EMR versions only).