What’s new in the CHR
Improvements
Viewing and completing fillable PDFs
You can now view and interact with fillable PDFs from the Inbox, Patient Files section and Summary view. You can view any pre-filled information and add, edit and delete content in the fillable fields. Additionally, you can add regular annotations such as signatures, drawings, and text fields, similar to working with standard PDFs. This is particularly helpful when patients send fillable PDFs for signature requests.
📌Note: When you add a signature to a fillable PDF, and close the document, you can no longer edit the fillable fields.
For more information, refer to Adding annotations to patient documents.
Medications and Prescriptions section interface improvement
As part of our ongoing usability and design improvements, the Medications and Prescriptions sections of patient charts now use clearer labels and button styles.
To reduce clutter, a new menu icon (3 dots) replaces the buttons on the right (stop, print, fax etc.). Click the icon to access the options for a medication or prescription.
Additionally, in the Medications section:
The Re-prescribe button is renamed Renew Medications.
The prescribed timelines clock icon is now a toggle.
The All, Current, Past, and External headings are below the Medications title. The selected heading is underlined.
New internal message icon
In a patient’s chart, when sending messages to other users, the Internal message icon has been replaced with a more intuitive New message icon.
Healthcare Directory enhancements
For clinics using Healthcare Directory, you are no longer required to save the contact or facility to your CHR's Contacts list when searching the Healthcare Directory.
When you add a Referring Practitioner, Family Doctor, or Preferred Pharmacy from the Healthcare Directory, a label appears below the contact or facility details in the dashboard widget, clearly indicating it is from the Healthcare Directory. Click the contact in the widget to open the Contacts window and view the details.
📌Note: If you edit any of the details for a Healthcare Directory contact, you are prompted to save them to your local Contacts list. If you proceed, the Healthcare Directory label is removed.
For more information, refer to Searching for contacts from the Healthcare Directory.
Searching pharmacies in Healthcare Directory from patient Qnaire
For clinics using Healthcare Directory, when a patient receives a Qnaire that includes questions to identify their preferred pharmacy, the patient can search for their pharmacy from the Healthcare Directory.
📌Note: If you confirm the pharmacy, the pharmacy appears on the patient's chart but is not added to the clinic's Contacts list.
The Preferred Pharmacy widget shows a Patient Reported label, in addition to the Healthcare Directory one.
💡Tip: The Referring Practitioner and Family Doctor widgets will also show the Patient Reported label if a patient selected it from the Healthcare Directory while filling out a Qnaire.
Assigning restrict and force access permissions independently
For more flexible permission management, you can now assign the restrict access permissions independently from the force access permissions.
Variables in email notifications based on your language preference
If you have French enabled in your CHR, email notifications in Settings > Notifications display variables in the language set in your user profile. For English user profiles, variables appear in English for both English and French email templates. For French user profiles, variables appear in French for both English and French email templates.
Ontario: Improved formatting of Ocean eReferral attachments
Headers and footers are now included in PDF letters and encounters attached to Ocean eReferrals. Providers’ signatures are also included on the attached letters and encounters that were signed.
Fixes
In the appointment booking window, you can remove existing Qnaires from appointment reminders, as well as add an additional Qnaire to the reminders.
If an appointment type has a pre-visit Qnaire attached and you delete that Qnaire in Settings > Qnaires, the pre-visit Qnaire is now also removed from the appointment type.
In the Filter Appointment window, if you delete all saved schedule filters and close the window, when you re-open the window the Save filter set button appears instead of the last applied (now deleted) filter.
An opened inbox message window no longer remains open after logging out and logging back into the CHR on the same tab but as a different user.
You can now access inbox items that were stuck in a processing status.
In an encounter, if you attempt to delete a full or partially paid private billing item, a validation error appears and the bill is not deleted.
When you create a new data slice, in Settings > Templates > Data Slice, the New Template button works again.
If you have French enabled in your CHR, the variables Practitioner title, Primary Practitioner title, and Patient title in a notification are in the preferred language of the patient.
For clinics using CHR Connect, CHR Connect can now be enabled by Provider as well as Staff user type.
What’s new in the CHR help
Our video collection on configuring provider availability is now complete: