Tracking a group of patients

[khdilger]

I am buying the charts from a small practice and I would like to track all the procedures that are done on that subset of patients. Any recommendations on how this can be done? Can I create new ADA codes that have a qualifier in them? For example create a new code D1100.1 and then have the ability to run a query for all the codes with a .1? Do insurance companies allow the use of a qualifier code? If not any other suggestions to achieve what I want?

[Hersheydmd]

Don't do that. Way too complicated.
Just enter the original doctor as the referral source and then you can track your income based on that referral.
You can create queries that break down income by almost any criteria you want as long as the information is in OD.

[bpcomp]

Typically the insurance companies would not play well with any modifications to the code. A D1100.1 would probably be rejected. Dr Hersh's suggestion of having a different provider might work depending on how you do it. If you submit to the insurance under a different provider then that creates it's own set of problems. My suggestion is to add a user defined field in the patient. If you go to setup and then "Patient Field Defs" then you can add your own custom field such as "Purchased chart from DrX" and then in each of the patient charts in Open Dental, you change the value to 1. Now a query can be written that only tracks those patients.

[Hersheydmd]

Typically the insurance companies would not play well with any modifications to the code. A D1100.1 would probably be rejected. Dr Hersh's suggestion of having a different provider might work depending on how you do it. If you submit to the insurance under a different provider then that creates it's own set of problems. My suggestion is to add a user defined field in the patient. If you go to setup and then "Patient Field Defs" then you can add your own custom field such as "Purchased chart from DrX" and then in each of the patient charts in Open Dental, you change the value to 1. Now a query can be written that only tracks those patients.

I didn't say to enter the original dentist as the provider. I said to just indicate that the patient was referred by that doctor as the referral source.
Also, the insurance companies don't see any difference between D1100 & D1100.1 Any letters or numbers you add to a standard insurance code are only for internal OD use. They don't get transmitted to the insurance company. That being said, I still like my suggestion as simpler than setting up a whole list of new insurance codes and fees. Bpcomps suggestion to add a user defined field in the patient field will also work, but why do you need a new field when every patient already has a "Referrer" field?

[bpcomp]

My apologies Dr Hersh. I obviously miss read your original post. Tracking by referral would obviously work great.

[Hersheydmd]

No problem.