Creating encounter templates

📹 View video tutorial: How to Build Encounter Templates

If you routinely see the same condition and create similar encounter notes, you can use an encounter template. Presenting issues can be linked to encounter templates which are automatically applied when you start an encounter from an appointment (with presenting issue).

Using encounter templates is a very time-efficient way of completing patient notes and contributes to an improved patient-provider interaction. See Using encounter templates.

Encounter templates can do some or all of the following:

Pull information into the encounter from various parts of your CHR account and the patient's chart
Pre-populate default text and options for answers to questions in the history, examination, and assessment sections of the encounter, making it easy to add information that is relevant to the presenting issue
Add Diagnostic codes, Billing items, Prescriptions, Forms and initial or follow-up Qnaires to the encounter, where relevant

Once you apply a template to an encounter, the content can be edited or removed prior to signing the encounter. Any instant variables or patient data variables you skip are deleted automatically as part of the signing process.
📌 Note: When you unlock a signed encounter, the skipped instant variables and patient data variables appear again.

⚠️ Important: Before creating encounter templates make sure that the Default Diagnosis Template for your account is correct . See Setting the default diagnostic template for your account.

Steps

From the main toolbar, click Settings > Templates > Encounter.
To add a new encounter template, click Add Template.
A New Encounter Template window appears.
To modify an existing encounter template, search for and select a template
An Edit Encounter Template window appears.
💡 Tip: You can also clone a template. See Cloning encounter templates for details.
From the General Tab, click in the blank field under under Template Name to add the name of the encounter template.
To associate the template with certain presenting issues, click + Attach Presenting Issue under Presenting Issues.
A window appears displaying all configured presenting issues in your CHR account.
Search and select the presenting issue.

📌 Note: You can create a presenting issue from this window by clicking on + New Presenting Issue. The Presenting Issue Dialog window appears. See Creating presenting issues for more information.
To attach another presenting issue, click +Attach Presenting Issue again and follow the same steps.
To add templates to certain sections of an encounter, click Encounter Sections.
Click on the relevant section to expand (or fold) and complete according to the below information:

Section	Description
Qnaires	To attach a Qnaire, click +Add Qnaire. A window opens with a list of all your CHR account Qnaires. Search and select a Qnaire. To add another Qnaire click +Add Qnaire again. To delete any added Qnaire, click the trash can icon next to it.
History and Examination	To insert a variable that pulls data in the encounter from the patient chart: Click where you want the information (variable) to appear and click Insert Variable. A list of available variables displays. Select a variable. See Variables for use in letter and encounter templates. A bubble (blue, red or green) appears in the encounter, indicating where the data will pull into the encounter. 💡 Tip: You can format your text/ words with bold, italics, strike-though, underline, add bullet points. You can also add tables, text indents and text alignment. To stop the bullet points or numbering, you must click the bullet or numbering icon again.
Assessment	To add a diagnostic codes, click +Add Diagnosis. Search for a code by clicking in the search field and typing the code or description and selecting the correct one from the list that appears. To delete a code, click the red X. To insert a variable that pulls data from the patient chart into this section of the encounter: Click where you want the information (variable) to appear and click Insert Variable. A list of available variables displays. Select a variable. See Variables for use in letter and encounter templates. A bubble (blue, red or green) appears in the encounter, indicating where the data will pull into the encounter. 💡 Tip: You can format your text/ words with bold, italics, strike-though, underline, add bullet points. You can also add tables, text indents and text alignment. To stop the bullet points or numbering, you must click the bullet or numbering icon again.
Prescriptions	Click +Add Prescription to add a prescription to the template. The Prescription Dialog window appears. See Creating prescriptions for more information. Click Save. To delete any added prescription, click the trash can icon next to it.
Forms	To attach a form, click +Add Form. A window opens with a list of all your clinic's form templates. Search and select a form template. To add another form click +Add Form again. To delete any added forms, click the trash can icon next to it.
Billing	Adding billing items to the template can save you time, for example: billing patients for procedures and products that aren't covered by MOH, such as contact lenses, lessons, and a cleaning kit. billing lawyers for paperwork and photocopying fees. billings that incorporate the same list of services, such as physicals and prenatal exams. To add an insured billing item, click +Add Insured. To add a private billing item, click +Add Private. See Creating private bills.
Follow Up Qnaires	To add follow-up (or scheduled) Qnaires, click +Add Follow Up. A New Scheduled Qnaire window appears. For more information, see Creating scheduled or follow-up Qnaires.

10. Click Save.

Updated June 6, 2022