Multiple Group Session Segments

Group Session Segments allow you to note the time the patient was present in the group session for situations where the patient leaves the group for another service before returning.

There is no change in user permissions or template setup. This enhancement is automatically part of the group session documentation experience. Any user with access to the edit view of the group session note can use this feature.

Add Group Session Segments

Let's review how to add a segment:

1. From the Group Session note, locate the patient and click into the End time field to enter the time the patient left the group and click OK.
   1. Important: The End Time must be at least two minutes before the group session end time or the the Add Segment button will not appear.
2. The Add Segment button will now display.
3. Click the Add Segment button and enter the desired Start and End times.  The value for the start time in this new segment will always be one minute later than the previous end time. This is done to ensure that there is no overlap between segments for the patient. It is expected that the Start time on any added segments will need to be manually adjusted to a later time.
4. Each added segment will display an icon to delete the entry if needed.
5. Additional segments can continue to be added by adjusting the end time of the last segment until the individual end time matches the group session end time.

Overlapping Warnings

The EMR will alert you about overlapping services with a notification indicating the patient has another service at this time. This is true for evaluation-to-evaluation, evaluation-to-group, and group-to-group overlaps.

• The EMR's logic will provider overlap warnings based on the Group Session Segment Start and End times rather than Group Session Start/End time.
• Only group sessions where the patient is marked as Attending will be part of the warning system.
• The warning text will also include information for the start date/time and end date/time of the segment as well as the type of service (Group or Evaluation) and the name of the template. Each entry in the warning is a clickable link to navigate to the conflicting service documentation.

Validations

The system has automated validations designed to ensure the following:

1. Individual segments within the same patient may not overlap. There must be at least one minute between the end of the last segment and the beginning of the next. If a time overlap is detected, the system will return a warning and will not save the data.
2. The total duration of the segments cannot exceed the total duration of the group session.
3. The values for the start and end times of each segment must be within the range of the group session start and end times. If a value is selected in a segment that falls outside of the session range, the system will return a warning and will not save the data.
4. The group session start and end time cannot be changed if there are individual segments that fall outside the desired range. The individual segments must be adjusted first. If a value is selected for the session start or end time and the individual segment falls outside of that session range, the system will return a warning and will not save the data. 

Views

Group session segment timing is visible in Past Group Sessions, the patient chart, and in the Financial Report with the Billable template. The Chart Summary in the patient chart will also show the total duration the patient spent in the completed group session.

• Past Group Sessions
• Patient Chart
• Reporting: The Financial/Billable report and the Integrated Billing report have both been updated to show the segments and the total duration for group sessions.