Auto ID Management Overview

Though technically not part of the configuration for system and domain settings, a discussion of Auto ID Management is relevant in relation to those topics as a key component of the organization’s patient management workflow. Administrators should be familiar with both the system settings and the basic patient registration workflow before they finalize any ID generator they may want to use.

Overview

The ID generators provided in the program consist of two types:

• MR Number: This corresponds to the internal system label Client ID 1, and it can be relabeled to fit the needs of your organization. For example, your workflow may require Account Number.
• Case ID: This corresponds to the internal system label Occurrence ID. Again, the filed can be relabeled to fit your needs.

Administrators have the option of creating several versions for each type; however, only one counter of each type can be used at any given time.

Key Considerations

• Care should be taken when creating an automatically generated ID so that each component is long enough to accommodate the potential patient population.
• If a problem with the generators should occur, a system message will appear, and the user will not be able to continue the current task in the patient creation process. For example, if the MR Number generator fails, then no patients can be created until the generator is fixed. If the Case ID generator fails, then patients can be created, but users will not be able to create cases for those patients and thus cannot schedule them until a case can be generated.
• By definition, ID generators must have at least one component. If a generator is composed of only a single component, it must be either an alphanumeric or a numeric counter. However, if more components are used, then select them in the proper order to achieve the desired results.
• Auto Id maintenance is governed by the Global Right "Auto Id Generators."

Component Definitions

Begin the ID generator creation by selecting Data Maintenance > Auto ID Management > Auto ID Generators from the Main menu. The Edit Auto Generators screen will appear. As you navigate the ID Generator, keep in mind the following component definitions: The components are the items of which the generator is comprised and each has a set of options that can be used in the generator definition.

Use the following descriptions and definitions to understand the available component options, and then refer to the Adding/Editing Auto ID Generators topic for the steps in creating a generator.

Alphanumeric Counter

An alphanumeric counter is a standard base 36 counter (26 letters + 0–9).

Initial Value: is available for the alphanumeric counter but is not really as necessary as it might be in a strictly numeric counter. The section corresponding to the counter of the ID is the alphanumeric equivalent of the start value selected for the initial value. (Unless, of course, a patient already has that value for some reason.) For example, an initial value of 2000 might return a value such as cea in the "counter" section when the ID is generated. If an alphanumeric counter is selected, the initial value really isn't required in that the generator will always create a unique value.

Maximum Length: Set the maximum length of the counter from 1 to 20.

Note:The total limit on all components combined for any generator is 20 characters.

Case Options: Click the radio button next to any letter case that you require from the following options:

• Upper Case
• Lower Case
• Natural

Company Data Field

Each demographic component has a list of fields that can potentially be used to create the component. For whichever component you choose (e.g., Company or Patient), the data is pulled from the corresponding demographics table in WellSky Resource Manager. Define demographic components by (a) a specific field and (b) a character length. That is, users choose which field to draw data from for the counter then designate how many characters of that field to use for the counter. For example, the component First 5 of Company City indicates a generator that uses the first 5 characters of the company's City field.

Field Name: Select one of the company's demographics fields from the drop-down list:

• City
• State
• Zip Code
• E-mail Address
• Phone
• Name

Maximum Length: Enter the maximum length between 1 to 20. The generator will use the first x of whatever demographic field is selected, where x is the number entered.

Padded Character: Use padding only if there is a potential of a value being less than the Max Length entered. Select an alphanumeric character.

Case Options: Click the radio button next to any letter case that you require from the following options:

Constant Value

The constant value component consists of whatever the user types in the field provided. This could be a location code, for example, or any other segment information that is consistently used in the IDs for the organization. Enter up to 20 alphanumeric characters (e.g., location code, department code, etc.). No other options are available with the constant value.

Numeric Counter

See Alphanumeric counter. Set an initial value on the numeric counter to establish a starting point for the ID. For example, if 10,000 is used as the initial value, then providing that no other patient exists in the database with an ID of 10,000, the first patient created once the generator is active should have a numeric counter component of 10,000.

Patient Demographics Field

See the previous "Company Data Field" section above. The only difference here is that the information comes from the patient demographics rather than the company demographics. Patient demographic fields that can be used for the component include:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Middle Name
• E-mail Address
• Gender
• SSN
• City
• State
• Zip Code
• Home Phone
• Work Phone
• Cell Phone
• Fax