Adding new family accounts

Patient files are organized by family. When you add new patients, you must first enter the head of household or guarantor, even if that person is not a patient. After entering the head of household, you can add other family members.

To add a new family account

1.   From the File menu in the Family File, click New Family.

The Select Patient dialog box appears.  

2.   Enter the family’s last name to verify that the family is not already entered in the system.

3.   Click New Family.

The Head-Of-House Information dialog box appears.

4.   Under Name, specify the following information:

·        Last, First, MI – Type the head of household's full name.

·        Preferred – Type the head of household's preferred name or nickname.

·        Salutation – Type a salutation for a letter, such as Cher famille Martin or Dear Smith Family.

·        Title – Type the head of household's title, such as Dr., M., Mr., Mme., Mrs., Mlle., or Ms., to include it on letters.

·        French – Select if the head of household speaks French and you want the responses from the insurance carrier for claims sent electronically through CDANet to be in French.

·        Print Title on Stmts – Select to print the head of household's title on billing statements.

Note: To use the proper greeting for your merged letters, Dentrix first tries to use the salutation. If no salutation exists, Dentrix inserts the title followed by the last name. If no title exists, Dentrix inserts the preferred name. If no preferred name exists, Dentrix opens the letter with the first name.

5.   Under Status, specify the following:

·        Select the patient’s activity status:

·        Patient - An active patient.

·        Non-patient - A family member who is not an active patient (such as a head-of-household guarantor or insurance subscriber).

·        Inactive - A former patient of the practice who has not been seen in a period of time.

·        Select the patient's gender: Male, Female, or Unknown.

·        Select the patient's marital status: Married, Single, Child, or Other.

6.   Under Personal, specify the following:

·        Birthdate – Type the head of household's date of birth.

The head of household's age is calculated automatically.

·        SIN - Type the head of household's Social Insurance Number.

Tips:

·        Hyphens, spaces, or slashes are automatically added to dates, phone numbers, and Social Insurance Numbers. In addition, Dentrix automatically capitalizes patient names, cities, and street names after you enter them. In the case of names that contain more than one capital letter (such as LaMarr), you must enter the proper capitalization manually.

·        You cannot use a patient's Social Insurance Number for another patient. If you receive an error indicating that a patient's Social Insurance Number is invalid, and you entered the SIN correctly, use the By SIN option in the Select Patient dialog box to find the patient with the duplicate number and make any necessary changes or corrections. If you need to enter a patient twice for insurance or other reasons, leave the SIN field empty on the inactive account.

·        PID – Type an identifier that you want to use in conjunction with specific insurance claim formats.

·        Driver's License # – Type the head of household's driver's license number.

7.   Type the head of household's street address, city, province, and postal code.

Notes:

·        Look up postal codes or cities that you have entered previously.

·        If a family member has an address different from the head of household, change the address in the family member's patient information.

8.   Type the head of household's e-mail address.

9.   Type the head of household's home and work phone numbers; work extension; best time to call; and fax, mobile, and other numbers.

10. Under Office, specify the following:

·        To select a primary provider, click the Prov 1 search button.

·        To select a secondary provider, click the Prov 2 search button.

·        To attach a fee schedule, click the Fee Schedule search button.

·        (Optional) To assign a chart number to the head of household manually, click the Chart search button to view a list of previously assigned chart numbers, and then type a six-digit alphanumeric chart number unique to the head of household. Otherwise, Dentrix assigns a chart number automatically. Dentrix uses this number as the account number on billing and walkout statements.

·        To specify a consent date other than the current date, type the date the head of household completed and signed consent for services and release of information forms. Dentrix assumes patients complete and sign these forms on their first office visit.

11. Under Privacy Requests, select one or more of the following to protect the head of household's privacy:

Note: When you select any of these options and click OK, Dentrix prompts you to create a patient alert for these requests. In the Family File, the term “Privacy Requests” appears in red and on the title bar of other modules to help you quickly identify patients who have privacy requests.

·        No phone calls – Select to prevent Dentrix from displaying or printing the head of household's phone numbers; <PRIVATE> appears instead.

·        No correspondence – Select to prevent Dentrix from sending letters, e-mail, or other correspondence to the head of household.

·        Disclosure restrictions – Select if the patient does not want information submitted via the Internet when referred to another doctor.

12. If necessary, under Visits, you can change the following information:

·        First Visit – Dentrix sets this date to the current date. You can change the date.

·        Last Visit – Dentrix generates this date automatically when you enter a transaction in the Ledger or the Patient Chart and set the procedure to complete.

·        Last Missed Appt – Dentrix generates this date automatically when you set and later break an appointment.

·        # Missed – Dentrix updates this number automatically when you break an appointment.