January 2024 Release Notes

January Release Highlights

[New EMR Feature]: Streamline Evaluation Reviews with the Refinement Requested Workflow

Enhance documentation quality with our new efficient workflow. It allows reviewers to request specific refinements to evaluations—fostering a learning experience for clinical staff and reducing reviewer workload.

Learn About the Workflow

[New EMR Feature]: Enhance the Digital Patient Experience when Sharing Multiple Forms in the Portal

Easily share multiple forms with patients through consolidated Portal Packages, reducing email clutter and simplifying form sharing. If you haven’t started using the Patient Portal yet, learn more about it here.

Discover Portal Packages

[New EMR Feature]: Variable Dose Orders in Medication Management 

Enhance your medication administration accuracy with our new Variable Dose Orders feature. Now, you can create flexible medication orders and select the precise dose at the time of administration in the MAR.

Explore Variable Dose Details in Release Notes 

[New Scheduler Feature]: After-Hours Scheduling

Now, you can book appointments outside regular working hours without adjusting your Resource Schedule. This adds flexibility and saves time.

[New Scheduler Feature]: Unified Appointment Types with Documentation Templates

Streamline your process by linking Consent and Evaluation Form templates from different locations to a single appointment type. This reduces confusion and the need for multiple appointment types, as only location-specific forms will show up on each appointment card.

[Scheduler Enhancements]

• Permissions Tightened:  Editing of Resource Schedules is now restricted to prevent user errors, ensuring only Super Admins or designated users can make changes. Similarly, restrictions on adding and editing appointments aim to standardize the appointment process while still allowing users to manage statuses, documentation, and telehealth sessions.
• Clear Button Improvement: The ‘Clear’ button now resets the view to show all appointments and group sessions, eliminating filter-related confusions.

What's Next for the EMR?

What's Next for the EMR? Exciting enhancements are on the way!  We're introducing new group session segments to accurately document varying start and end times—enhancing patient attendance data.  Next, we're preparing to rollout our improved electronic prescribing for streamlined medication management.  Also, look forward to a new integration with ASAM, enriching our comprehensive care approach.  Significant billing updates are coming to enhance accuracy and improve workflows.  Lastly, we're refining the login/logout process for enhanced security and an improved user experience.  For more details about these and more, click here. What's Next for Scheduler? We’re excited about further improving Appointment Communications, including: Group Session Reminders: Automated reminders and communications for group sessions. Customized Templates for In-Person vs. Telehealth: Tailor Appointment Communications based on the type of appointment. Viewable Communications History: Enhancements to the Appointment Communications Tab will allow viewing of sent communications to clients.

13.1.0.1 - January 26, 2024

Fixed

• Billing: Fixed the Payor parameter on the billing report for customers using the Avea integration.

13.1.0.0 - January 25, 2024

Refinement Requested

The new Refinement Requested functionality allows a review user to send an evaluation back to a staff member for additional edits before the review signature is added. Comments can be added to the document by the review user, and an optional notification can be set up to automatically alert the staff user that refinements have been requested. This feature can be found on your Evaluations tab.

Refinement Requested Process

• The review user views an evaluation with a status of Ready for Review to see if it can be signed and completed or whether it needs to be returned for refinement.
• The review user can add comments to the read-only view of the evaluation.
• The reviewer sends the evaluation back to a specific staff user (generally the staff user who filled out the evaluation) using the Return for Refinement button.
• The status of the evaluation changes to Needs Refinement and the specified staff user receives a notification (if configured).
• The staff user makes edits and resolves comments, if applicable.
• The staff user clicks the Complete Refinement button to return the form to the Ready for Review status.
• The review user reviews the revised evaluation and can either sign it or request further refinements.

Note: These comments and refinements are intended to be an on-screen learning and training tool in the EMR. They will remain visible on the evaluation until it is moved to the Complete status. By design, comments will not appear on any print or PDF views of the document and will not be visible to users with the Auditor role.

For more information and detailed instructions, check out this article.

New

• Billing: Improved the Do Not Bill screen to include the ability to directly update the Do Not Bill Reason if the wrong value was chosen. Check out this article for instructions on enabling and setting up this feature and the Do Not Bill section of this article for instructions on using it.
• Billing: Customers can use MAT Dosing services or Lab services configured in Settings > Billing > Services to designate a default provider who will populate when the billable item generates and displays on the billing report. For more information, click here.
• Billing: Added Last Modified By and Date to the Payor Rule Settings so that you can easily view the latest updates. For more information on payor rules, click here.
• Billing: Added Last Modified By and Last Modified Date auditing to the Location Settings. Click here for more information.
• Billing: Added Last Modified By and Date to the Billing Service Settings so that you can easily view the latest updates. For more information, click here.
• Billing: Updated the Services tab in the Billing Settings to the new styling for consistency. For more information, click here.
• Billing: Added the Insurance Policy Number to authorizations in the Concurrent Review section so that users have an easier time differentiating between policies. For more information on concurrent reviews click here.
• Billing: Updated the expanded view display of hyperlinks on billable items to be more clear about intended usage.
• Billing: Updated the expanded display of the MARs and Vitals billable items to be more consistent and display time stamps. 

• Billing: Improved the End Date calculation logic to recalculate when the number of days is changed. It will also take the selected days of the week checkboxes into consideration. For more information, click here.

• Billing: Enhancements have been made to the Add Review pop-up window so that Managed is selected by default in the Managed/Non-Managed dropdown to maintain consistency with the service review workflow. Click here for more information.

• Billing: Updated the layout of the Levels of Care settings to be more organized and intuitive. Click here for more information.

• Billing: Improved performance on the billing report for clients that use lab services.

• Login: Users no longer need to click the “Send me the code” link when they log in on a new browser for the first time. Instead, the system will automatically send a verification code to their preferred method of communication (email or text) after they enter their username and password. For further login information click here.
• Login/Logout: Enhanced the log-out process by adding a 5-second delay that allows users to stay in the instance if they change their mind or accidentally click Sign Out. For further login information click here.
• Login/Logout: Users can enable Kipu notifications in their browsers so that they receive notifications when their session is about to expire. 
  • On your next login after this update, you will be prompted to allow notifications for your Kipu instance.
    
  • Once done, the system will notify you 1 minute before automatically logging you out. If you change your mind, you can always turn the notifications off in your browser’s settings. If you selected “Not Now”, you can enable notifications later by clearing your browser’s cache. 
    • Note: For this feature to work, your browser’s notifications should be enabled on your computer
  • For further login information click here.
• Login/Logout: We have updated the automatic logout process when a session times out. As a reminder, the time-out period is 15 minutes. The reminder will pop up 1 minute before logging the user out. Key changes:
  • Changed how the system interprets the user being idle - Kipu will now recognize mouse movements, interaction with notifications, and typing in the textboxes as an active action (previously the user had to refresh the page or save changes to be active).
  • Before the user is logged out, the system will save any changes in progress (e.g. unfinished text) in all tabs.
  • Time-out notifications work in all sections of Kipu, including special dialogs (e.g. the ePrescribe portal, the vital signs window), queues, and Scheduler.
  • When the user chooses Keep Working, the system will automatically remove the pop-up from all tabs the user works in and refresh the timeout on all of them. Similarly, when the user chooses Sign Out Now, they will be signed out from all tabs simultaneously.
  • New modern design
    
  • For further login information click here.
• MAT Log: You can now choose to display the patient's signature next to each dose in the MAT Log tab of MAT Orders. Click here for more information on the MAT Orders tab.

• Orders & MARs: Users can now create a medication order with a variable dose by adding the possible quantities that can be administered. For custom order creation click here, for quick order template creation click here.

  

  Orders with variable dose orders chosen will display a dropdown with the available quantities, allowing the user to indicate which amount was given to the patient when administering or observing the medication in the MAR. For more information on the MAR tab click here.

• Outcomes: Updated verbiage of questions 9 and 10 of the PHQ-9 assessment according to official standard texts and guidelines from The Joint Commission. Click here for more information on available assessments.

  • Note: This change only applies to assessments created after this version’s release date. Assessments created previously will retain the old verbiage.
• Settings: To preserve data integrity, we no longer allow Super Admins to delete locations under Settings > Company. Now, when deleting a location, it will be disabled instead. For detailed instructions on disabling a location, click here.
• Settings: New layout and aesthetic improvements have been made to the Patient Processes (Tabs) section. For more information on the Patient Processes section check out this article.

Fixed

• Attendance Tracker: Fixed an issue where the Filter By Program option did not work if the program name had an extra space at the end.

• Back to Top: Fixed an issue where the Back To Top button didn't trigger when the user scrolled.

• Billing: Fixed a bug for Avea customers that changed the insurance view erroneously.

• Billing: Fixed an issue that changed the capitalization of the LOC Name on billed items.

• Billing: Fixed an issue where updating the End Date field in the Do Not Bill search omitted results that should still have been displayed.

• Billing: Fixed an issue where the Last Signer provider options did not apply if there was only one signer in the Group Session.

• Call Backs: Fixed an issue that caused incorrect Expected and Remaining counts in certain cases.

• Chart Summary: Fixed an issue where the signatures for some group sessions were duplicated in the Chart Summary.

• Evaluations: Fixed an issue where the overlapping services warning did not appear for users in some cases.
• Facesheet: Fixed an issue where the facesheet didn't scroll to the top after validation to show the result message.

• Facesheet: Fixed an issue where the Concurrent Review section was unavailable on the facesheet for the charts sent from the Kipu CRM.

• Facesheet: We changed the contact’s address field back to a textbox instead of a string (to allow multi-line text).

• Filters/Search: Fixed an issue where Admission and Discharge filters on the landing page included patients admitted or discharged at midnight after the selected date range end date.

• Group Sessions: Fixed a few aesthetic issues in the Group Session Individual Notes layout.

• Integrated Assessments: Fixed an issue where the time recorded for vital signs current, CIWA-Ar current, CIWA-B current, and COWS current fields in the evaluation form appeared in the wrong time zone.

• Login/Logout: Fixed an issue where users were prematurely logged out from Kipu and not allowed to keep working or save their work in progress first.

• Messages (EMR): Fixed an issue where some users were not available as recipients for messages (the issue only affected facilities with 1000+ users).

• Messages (EMR): Fixed an issue where some users were not able to see Regarding and Date/Time information in the messages listview when working on laptop screens.

• Notifications: Fixed an issue where super admins could not edit a notification policy in Settings > Notifications (Record Not Found error) if one of the recipients no longer belonged to the notification’s location.

• Outcomes: Fixed an issue where users could not open Issues Report for some patient’s assessments.

• PDF Packages: Fixed an issue where the Golden Thread List (when added) did not appear in the PDF Package file.

• Portal: Fixed an issue where portal users could not see their past appointments unless they had future appointments as well.

• Portal: Fixed an issue where documentation incorrectly showed overlapping services warnings for portal users.

• Reports: Fixed an error that sometimes occurred after using the Update Range functionality.

• Reports: Fixed an issue where the systolic and diastolic blood pressure column headers were swapped in a single evaluation report.

• Reports: Fixed an issue where the exported XLSX file was always empty for Doctor’s Orders and Med Logs/MARs reports under Reports > Medications.

• Reports: Fixed an issue where the exported XLSX file was always empty for MAT Orders and MAT Logs reports under Reports > Medications.

• Reports: Fixed an issue where columns in the Group Session report (All/Incomplete criteria) shifted incorrectly in CSV/XLS for groups without signatures.

• Users: Fixed an issue where changes made to user profiles with a high number of restricted patients (or with Restrict all patients except for Caseload) were not saved.

• Users: Fixed an issue where the Super Admin role was unassigned from a user’s profile automatically if a user with Manage Users permissions made any changes.

1.6.8 Scheduler Release - January 25, 2024

New

• Improvements to conflict messaging when adding new appointments: New errors and alerts have been added to the system to provide more details about scheduling conflicts and allow users to make informed decisions about overbooking or rescheduling.

• Adding Appointments Outside of Working Hours: When adding a new appointment outside of a resource’s Working Hours, the user will receive a warning indicating that the appointment is outside regular hours, but they will still be able to save it. This update allows for greater scheduling flexibility without having to manually extend the resource’s working hours. Click here for more information on creating appointments.

• Scheduler Filter Clear button functionality: The clear button now removes all filter selections (Appointment Status, Appointment Type, Clients, and Group Session) and returns the Scheduler to the default display (all appointment icons selected) to ensure that no appointments are accidentally missed.
  

Fixed

• Group Schedule Add/Edit: Fixed an auto-calculation issue where the default End Date appeared as more than one year because 2024 is a leap year.

12.15.0.12 - January 11, 2024

New

• Billing: Enhanced the Admit to Discharge payor rule to allow facilities to not see the billable items until the patient has been discharged. For more information, click here.

1.6.7 Scheduler Release - January 9, 2024

New

• Appointment Card Documents: When a user accesses documents from the Appointment Card on the Scheduler they will only see the linked forms for their location based on the Appointment Types Templates setup. For more information on appointment cards check out this article.

• Appointment Communication Macros: Changes have been made to the Reply to Contact Number macro so that it will pull the telephone number from Settings > Company > Location > Phone Number for the location where the appointment is scheduled. The Location settings article can be found here and check out this article for more information on communication macros.

• Appointment Type Template Forms: When adding or editing appointment types, users can view all enabled versions of consent and evaluation forms and add them to an appointment type whenever multiple locations are chosen. Any changes made will take up to five minutes to appear on Scheduler. For more information on appointment types, click here.
• User Permission: There is a new Scheduler user permission that will prevent a user from adding and/or editing any appointments on the Scheduler. Users with this permission enabled will still be able to view appointments, access and add any pertinent documents, and update appointment statuses. Check out this article for more information.
•  User Permission: We have introduced a new user permission called Restrict Resource Schedule Setup that, when assigned, will only allow the user to view their Resource Schedule. They will not have the ability to edit their own Resource Schedule and any changes will need to be completed by a Super Admin or a user with the Manage Scheduler Settings permission. Check out this article for more information.

Fixed  

• Group Session Appointments: Fixed an error where some newly assigned group session occurrences did not display on the Calendar View of Scheduler.

• Scheduler List View Export: Fixed an issue where MR numbers appeared in the Details column of the export instead of the expected Appointment Status.

• Telehealth Links: Fixed an issue where some Zoom telehealth links returned an error because the identifier did not meet the required length.

12.15.0.10 - January 4, 2024

Fixed

• Billing: Improved performance when exporting items from the Do Not Bill or Billed page.