How to Create and Use Document Templates

How to Create and Use Document Templates

The documentation template feature is where a clinic can create professional letters, referrals, and SOAP note templates. This article will show the steps on how to create a template from start to finish and how to get the document generated within a patient's file.

After the initial walk-through, you will find examples of documentation templates, circumstances in which they would be used, and information on how the template pulls patient information.

Once your templates have been created, you will be able to go to the patient's file->Document tab and create your professional letter and all data that was selected to be pulled from the patient file will be displayed on the document template.

One of the main uses for document templates is the ability to print out professional-looking soap notes. There are two ways to print SOAP notes within the software 1) by creating the document template, or 2) by printing from the Case tab in a patient's file. For more information on printing Simple SOAP notes (from within a patient file) please click Here. To see how to create a soap note document template please read below.

- Creating a Document Template From Scratch -

Creating a New Template

First, go to Admin>Document Templates>Select the 'Add' button at the bottom of the page, and then type the title of the template in the 'Template Name' box.

Cover Letter Tab

Cover letters can be created to go along with the document template you are creating or as a standalone statement letter. A cover letter can be created by typing out the exact content you wish to generate or you can use the "Insert data fields" area and choose options that will instruct the Cover Letter to grab data from the patient's file.

Do not use options that refer to a patient's appointment as the cover letter will not grab data embedded within a saved appointment.

To use the data insert option, click on the 'Insert Data Field' area and choose the option from the provided list you would like to use. 

Here is an example of what a letter would look like on the Cover letter tab.

This is an image showing how that letter was generated once it added all of the proper data in the correct places.

Creating a Report will be broken down into 3 parts. The report header, a Notes section, and the Report footer. We will break down each area below.

Report Header Tab

Information entered within this tab will be printed at the beginning of the Report. This is how you want your report to start.

You can freely type what you want the beginning of your report to say or, you can select the Insert data area to choose information to pull from the patient file such as Patient first and last name, appt date, treating provider name for the appointments you are generating information from, provider signature, etc. like you see in the image below.

Notes Tab

This is where we will indicate what data we would like pulled from a completed appointment and which reason for the visit that info should come from.

Anything generated in this area will come directly after the data written in the Report Header tab.

You will select the desired letter buttons on the left-hand column to add in all of the soap notes fields that you want to print. For this example, I added in N & E first, then S, O, A, P, and ICD. If a field was put in by mistake, click the red 'X' to the right of the field to remove it.

Additional options are Dr: for the D section of the patient notes and also Sig: for the patients, signature to generate if your office was using self-check-in and had a signature pad connected for the patient to sign. (no longer available after Jan 2021).

Once the areas you would like are displayed on the screen, you will associate the proper reason for visit (ROV), those notes or ICD codes should come from. If the data should be pulled from any reason for the visit, make sure to choose "ANY" like in the example below.

Please keep in mind: If a ROV is not selected, that appointment will be skipped and data Will Not be pulled from that patient's visit.

Footer Tab

Data written in this area will come directly after the notes section. This is not a page footer. The information you would like to enter should start at the top of the page.

You can freely type in this section or use the Insert Data Field dropdown to choose the information you would like to pull such as the publish date, treating provider name, or treating provider signature just to name a few.

 Once you are finished creating your document, you must select Save at the bottom right of the screen to lock in your changes.

- How to use a document template -

Step 1: Create

  a.) Go to the patient's file

  b.) Documents tab

  c.) Click on the 'Create New' button at the bottom of the page

Step 2: Select Filters

  a.) Select your template

  b.) Select date range

  c.) Select Provider if you are wanting only notes from a specific provider

  d.) Put checks in boxes next to 'Include clinic in footer' and 'Include patient DOB in footer' if desired. This is a page footer.

  e.) Click the 'Next' button

 

Step 3: Save

After it creates,

  a.) Click the 'Next' button, and the document will generate

  b.) Click the 'Next' button

  c.) Click the 'Finished' button

The document will be saved to the patient's file in Documents tab, and can be deleted or opened by selecting it, and clicking the 'Delete' or 'Open' button at the bottom of the page.

 All set!

How to Edit an Already Created Document under the Documents Tab

• If you select the previously created document and select "Open" another window will open showing you the contents of the document.
• You will make any and all necessary changes within the window that opens. 
• When finished select the X at the top Right to close the window and it will ask you if you want to save, select Save. 

• Once the changes are saved, select "Done" on the Download file window. 

• That will take the changes back to the software. If you reopen you will see the changes made are showing when opening the document again. If you do not do it in the exact order laid out, the changes will not save. IF the user is logged in as themselves on another PC to access the CoAction software, that will also prevent the changes from being saved.

**If these steps are not followed, the changes made WILL NOT be sent to CoAction to Save**

*Example 1 - All Records

On the left is a list of all the templates that have already been created. For this example, we will be reviewing the 'All Records' template. This report might be used to print out all of the SOAP notes and ICD's that have been entered into a patient's file, along with a desired header and footer on each page.

Please keep in mind: All templates provided can be customized to fit your clinics need.

You would select the template you would like to work on, customize and select "Save" when finished.

Detailed customization info will be discussed in the "Creating a Document Template From Scratch" section below.

Cover Letter Tab:

After selecting 'All Records' template, the first tab that we will look at is Cover Letter. For this template, there is no data populated in the Cover Letter tab. This means no cover page will be created for this document.

Header Tab:

The Header tab is where you will enter whatever you want the document to say, at the beginning of each report. So in this scenario, the fields that we entered are:

"Patient's name: First, Last"

"Appointment Date"

"Treating provider's name: First, Last"

So this information will be pulled from the patient's file to populate on the top of each page, and then it will be followed by any data fields that are put in the Notes and Report Footer tabs.

Notes Tab:

The Notes tab tells the system exactly which notes that you would like the document to populate for this particular template. Since this is an 'All Records' template, we will want the N, E, S, O, A, P, and ICD sections of the patient's notes to print. To select those fields, we will click those letter buttons on the left column, in the order that you want them to be in, from the top to the bottom.

If a button was clicked by mistake, to remove that data field from the document, you can click the red 'X' to the right of that data field.

Once those fields are added, we need to tell the system which Reasons of Visit (ROV) you would like to grab the data from. To select this, click the down arrow in the box under 'Display when ROV is..'. You can select as many ROV here as you would like. For this example, I will make the selection "<Any>" at the top of the list, because I want the N note data to populate for any ROV that was selected for their appointment.

Please keep in mind: If a ROV is not selected, that appointment will be skipped and data Will Not be pulled from that patients visit.

 **Please select ROV's for all fields entered.

Footer Tab:

The Footer tab is where we will put the information that we want displayed at the end of the Report. The Footer tab is not a page footer. That is why you see the information displayed at the top of the page.

Here, some text was typed into the document before entering data fields:

"Notes were prepared and reviewed by: "

"Created On: "

"Last Edited On: "

and then we inserted the data fields that we wanted to populate on the report, after the text:

"Notes were prepared and reviewed by: "  "Treating provider's name: First, Last"

"Created On:"  "Document creation date"

"Last Edited On:"  "Last edit date"

*Summary - The document that will generate for this template will show SOAP Notes and ICD codes for the desired date range (date range is selected in the patient's file when generating), and a Header and Footer on each page.

*Example 2 - Letter

Now let's review a template that we would want to use for a letter. For this example, we will look at the '30 Days Past Due' template, which we could send to a patient if they have a balance on their account that is 30 days past due.

Cover Letter Tab:

After selecting that template from the list, in the Cover Letter tab it shows that we have entered data fields at the top of the page, and then entered text for the body and the closing of the document.

Header, Notes, and Footer Tab:

For the Header, Notes, and Footer tab, no data fields (or text) are entered, so the only page that will generate is the page that was created under the Cover Letter tab. Pages will only generate if data fields are entered into the page under that tab (Cover Letter, Header, Notes, Footer).

*Summary - This template will generate a single page (what we created in the Cover Letter tab) since that is the only information put into any of the tabs. The patient's information (name, and address) will be pulled from the patient's file, and put into the selected data fields.

-  Support Information -

 If you have any questions or need assistance with this process, please contact 

Support by:

Live chat: Click the 'Support Portal' button in your main toolbar (on left-hand side) within your software, click the green 'Support' box in bottom right of screen. Hours of operation are M-F 8am-6pm CST.

***This has the fastest response time***

Call or Text: 909-378-9514

Email: [e-mail]