Treatment Plan Module  

The Treatment Plan Module is a prioritized list of treatment that the patient needs. After entering needed treatment from the Chart module, you can move to this module to organize it for the patient.

The priority list to the right is set up in Definitions. Priorities can be numbers, letters, or words up to 7 characters. For the example above, a few common words were chosen, but it is entirely up to the individual office, and it has a lot to do with how you want to present it to the patient. As when setting up any Definition, the order of the priorities can be rearranged and priorities can be hidden. In this case, you also have the option of selecting a color for each priority. In the example, gray was one of the colors used. Other descriptive words you might use would be Sched, Wait, Next, ?, Decline, Last, Low, High, NewYear, Urgent, WaitIns, Altern, Plan A, Plan B, RecPlan, AltPlan, etc. As you can see there are many ways of doing it.

The column names and widths of the main grid can be customized in Display Fields.  The Pri Ins column shows the insurance estimates for the insurance plan listed first within the Family module. The Sec Ins column shows the insurance estimates for the insurance plan listed second within the Family module. These two insurance estimates can be misleading if the patient has one dental insurance plan and one medical insurance plan. Remember, if you create a dental claim, only the dental insurance will be used by default, and if you create a medical claim, only the medical insurance will be used by default. For behavior when creating new claims, see Create Claim.

Once you have your priorities set up in Definitions and you open this module, the list at the right will show the priorities you have set up. The list is used to assign priorities to the procedures on the treatment plan. Select any number of procedures, holding down the control key or dragging for multiple selections. Then click on an item in the Set list, and the priorities will be assigned and the order of the procedures on the list rearranged accordingly. You can also set priorities as you enter treatment in the Chart module and within the Procedure Edit window.

In the Treatment Plans list at the top, you can see that there is a default TP in addition to any saved TP's. The default TP will change. For instance, as procedures gets completed, they will no longer show on the default TP. So anytime you give a TP to a patient, it is strongly recommend to use the Save TP button in the toolbar to save a copy. This creates a permanent archive that you can refer back to when talking with a patient.

The other purpose for allowing multiple TP's is if you want to give the patient alternate TP's. Add all procedures to the current TP. Then, highlight some of them, and click Save TP. Do the same for any alternate TP's.

If you double click on any saved TP, you can edit a few details as shown below.

If you turn on the Public Health features, you will also be able to see a Responsible Party field.

When you save a TP from the default TP, you are also creating copies of the procedures. Double clicking on one of these procedures will bring up this window instead of the usual Procedure Edit window:

Changing details here does not affect the original procedure at all. One powerful feature you have is the ability to edit the description to show however you want. For instance, you could change a "Composite - 4 surf" to a "White filling". Use your imagination. It can come in handy. If you want descriptions to always come out in simpler language, you can change the Layman's description for each code in the Procedure Code edit window.

When you print the treatment plan, you have a few options on what shows. Check the completed treatment box to show completed treatment on the graphical chart in addition to the treatment planned treatment. Check the Insurance Estimates box to show insurance estimates on the treatment plan. You can also set defaults for both of these from the Practice setup page.

The area at the lower right is to view remaining insurance benefits. You can tell at a glance how much insurance has been used and how much of the treatment can be done before insurance runs out.  For details regarding how the amounts are calculated, see the Treatment Plan Module Insurance page.

The box at the upper right shows all Preathorizations for this patient.

The update fees button in the toolbar is used when the fees for the procedures in the list are outdated. This can happen if you update your office fees, but you would normally wait until the treatment plan was six months old before updating the fees. The update fees button only updates fees for one patient at a time, and is designed to be used during the regular six month exam if there are still procedures present from the last exam which have not been completed. One other situation where you might need to use the update fees button would be if you change the insurance plan or the fee schedule for a patient after entering in all their fees. Then, to update the fees to the new fee schedule, you would click the update fees button.

To print the treatment plan, click the Print TP button. The printout will be similar to the following:

Signing Treatment Plans

In the main list at the top, the last column indicates whether the saved TP has been signed.  Click the Sign TP button in the toolbar to either sign a new TP or view a previous signature.

The signature can be on screen with a stylus using Windows Tablet PC, or you can use a Topaz signature pad. The signature will then show when printing.  There are situations where multiple providers need to sign a treatment plan, as in the case of a resident.  One way to handle this is for the first provider to make notes and type their name in the notes.  The second provider can then do the actual signing to approve the note.