Adding/Editing Procedure Categories

Though not required, procedure categories are useful in organizing procedures into logical groups (e.g., Anesthesiology, Rehab Medicine, Surgery, etc.) in order to filter data more efficiently on Search dialogs. Organizations that routinely sift through thousands of procedures will find that the filter offered by categories minimizes the amount of data users are required to sift through on the Procedure Search screens simply because there will be less data to sift through.

To create a Procedure Category,

Select Data Maintenance > Procedure Maintenance > Procedure Categories from the Main menu. The Edit Procedure Categories screen will appear.
Complete the screen entry according to the following definitions/descriptions.

Use For Scheduling: This option is checked by default and should in general be left alone. De-select the option if the category of procedure you are creating will not be used for scheduling.

For example, some integrated partners require a class of procedures separate from those used for scheduling to use with billing. When required, they can de-select this option. Categories without this option enabled will not appear in scheduling operations. This does not prevent the procedures from appearing when categories are not used or a different category containing the same procedure has this option checked and is used to filter data.

Description: Enter a description up to 200 characters in length. This field is required.

Color: All procedure categories default to the Appointment Color defined in System Settings. Accept the default or click the selector to choose an alternate color. When appointments are scheduled, users have the option of choosing an appointment color based on the procedure category to which the procedures assigned to the appointment belong.

Click Save to commit your changes and clear the screen for a new entry. Click New to abort your changes and clear the screen.

Key Considerations

Procedure category maintenance is governed by the Global Right "Edit Procedure Categories."
Procedure categories must exist before procedures can be added to them. So it is a good idea to outline the categories that might be necessary in your organization prior to initial data entry. They can always be added, but initial setup will be more efficient if the base categories exist.
Procedure categories can be assigned to domains as a further aid in filtering data. Then, for example, a user who filters a search dialog by a category will see only the procedures that belong both to the category and the domain in which the user is assigned. All the procedures in the specific category can be displayed by selecting the Non Domain Specific Search option on the Procedure Search screens.