Multi-Patient (NS) Appointments

When companies schedule appointments for services to be provided to a group of employees, it can be highly inefficient to create individual appointments for each employee. A better approach is to create a single appointment under which you can collect data for multiple patients (multiple audiograms, for example).

Some group services, such as administering flu shots, do not require keeping individuals records, although it is desirable to record the number of shots given, so the company can be billed appropriately. The multi-patient type of appointment accommodates both situations.

To create a multi-patient appointment, begin on the Appointment Register screen, select a Staff ID, and then enter the letters NS (for Not Specified) in the Patient ID field. Describe the appointment in the adjacent text box, then complete the appointment fields as usual. When you save, you have two choices. The default is to select individual patients from a list of employees who work at the responsible company. SYSTOC will then create order(s) for each patient that you select. This is the approach to use if the responsible company expects you to track the results in SYSTOC and provide a detailed invoice that shows who received the service and what the results were. Individual employee selections are made in the window shown below.


Select patient dialog

Begin by clicking on the record of an employee you want; then click the Add Value button located under the Return Values portion of the window. This causes that employee's ID to appear in the Return Values area. Repeat this process until all of your selections have been made. If desired, you can use the Add All button to select all the employees listed and the Remove Value button to remove selected IDs. Use the Remove All button to clear the window.

If an employee name does not appear on this list, click on the Add button. This opens the Patient Summary screen in Add mode, where new patient information can be entered. When you are finished selecting employees, click the OK button or press Alt+O to open the Select Orders window. SYSTOC will automatically create a copy of every order you select for each employee on your list.

On the other hand, if you don't need individual orders for each patient, you can select the alternate choice (the Cancel button on the message) which is to simply change the quantity field of the selected order(s). You will go directly to the Select Orders window. Select the order(s) for the service(s) you will provide at this visit. There will be one order for each service you intend to provide. For each order, adjust the Qty field to reflect the actual number of services provided, so that billing will be accurate.