2021

Modified on Tue, Nov 29, 2022 at 7:05 AM

December 31

Users are now able to schedule services by clicking directly on the service calendar.
Users with the appropriate permissions can now bulk update services from the service search results.
"Guests" accessing a service from a link were given access to download the forms that they just completed.
Several updates were made to the payroll page including the addition of "holiday" tracking for salaried employees.
Additional filters were added to the Reimbursements page for better parsing through completed services.
Submitted claim numbers were added to the table view on the Reimbursements page to better identify reimbursed services.
A number of end of the year forms were updated.
Service wages can now be overridden to "0," where needed, on a staff's profile.
Additional checks were added to the Reimbursement validation logic to include facility-related details.
- A "Recreate PDF" button was added to the file viewer, where appropriate, for quick recreations of pdf forms where a previous error may have occurred.

December 1

Several new features were added for hourly employees and their management. These include...
- ...the addition of clock in and clock out buttons to the main menu, which provide quick, easy access to starting and ending their day.
- ...a page for administrators to provide oversight of supervised, hourly staffs' timesheets.

Several updates were made to the payroll page, including a performance boost and updates to the information included in a staff's details.
A warning was added for users who have updated a service from complete to incomplete in order to help deal with situations where a billing rate was changed but the unit and/or time values were not updated.
Additional backend logging was added to capture logins, logouts, and IP addresses.
Passwords can now be set to expire with a new setting on the Configuration page.
Updates and bug fixes were applied to the client and service searches, providing admins with additional functionality.
Forms can now be renamed within the Form Library.
A number of SAS forms were added and updated.

November 1

"Start Work" and "End Work" buttons were added to the main menu for hourly employees. This makes allows them to quickly clock in and out without having to go to the Timesheet page.
Guest access has been added to the system. With this feature, digital forms and custom fields associated with activities can be shared with people that do not have HealtheFirst accounts. When enabled from the Configuration page, the flow is as follows:
1. From an existing service, click on Share > In Email (bottom toolbar)
2. Enter the email address of the person to grant access to, enter a message to be included, and the number of days that the access should be valid for.
3. Use the list of activities and forms to choose which forms to share, and which fields to be shared (click on the field to allow the guest to editing permissions).
4. Once all forms and fields have been selected, click "Save and Send" and an email will be sent along with your message and a link to HealtheFirst.
5. When the guest accesses the link, they will receive a one-time password in their email that will need to be entered in order to gain access to the shared forms.
6. They are able to update the fields as configured and can save their edits.
7. Once completed, the guest will receive an email to confirm their access, and the staff member who originally shared the forms will receive a chat notification in HealtheFirst indicating that updates have been made, along with a link to the service.
8. Once viewing the service, a new tab will appear in the right column allowing them to check in on the shares that have been provided.

Various performance updates where made throughout the Reimbursements page.
The format of the invoice export was updated to include additional breakdowns of each billing rate.
A "no client" option was added to most client filter options.
An "apply" button was added to list filter options in order to give staff members better control over the filtering and better overall performance.
A report was added to allow for breakdowns of staff time and payroll.
An overhaul of staff roles, the available permissions, and the labelling of those options was completed in order to provide administrators a better understanding of what each permission does and how/when they should be applied.
Several forms were added or updated.

October 1

Created and refined an invoicing module for the ERP mode of HealtheFirst. This includes the ability to generate, update, and export physical invoices, as well as tracking due dates and payments.
A new permission was added, which allows staff members to manage caregivers/contacts independently. When enabled, staff members will see a new menu option under Clients. The view will include a list of all caregivers/contacts, as well as the ability to update associated clients and other basic information. This will be most helpful for organizations where the caregivers/contacts have multiple associations.
Added and updated several forms.
Improved the "Do you want to save..." logic when navigating away from a service or service group to better handle cases where data has not changed.
Added a couple of reports to the library, including one for accounts receivable.
An update was made to the overall reporting layout that allows users to hide the detail area and give the actual report a larger area on the screen.
Minor refinements were made to custom fields, including the addition of a "blank" option for dropdown lists, the inclusion of a "hierarchy" type, and the addition of the ability to include certain fields in report filters.
Updated the service group search to include the ability to add custom fields as filters and as result columns.
Custom fields can now be used to override the billing date (DTP103) on X12/EDI exports.
The payroll page was updated to better handle the tracking of paid wages.
The payroll export was updated to include a billing rate by billing rate breakdown of work completed.

September 1

Service plans can now be limited to only being deployed once per client ("Limit Concurrent Deployments"). When deploying a plan for a client, if that plan has already been deployed, and has incomplete services, those services will be deleted to allow for the new plan to take its place without any overlap.
The activity sync feature has been updated to allow the user to choose the instance with which to sync.
Added foreign currency support at the billing rate level.
Service wage can now be overridden at the staff level instead of only being tied to the role.
A search option was added to the client files "tab."
SAS forms were updated to the latest releases.
Services can now be created directly from a client's profile, which provides a workflow for adding services to archived/disenrolled clients when needed.
A warning message has been added when opening a service for an archived/disenrolled client.

August 1

A new setting was added to custom fields, allowing admins to restrict access to the fields to certain staff members (based on their role permissions).
Custom fields can now be added to client cases.
A new workflow was added, allowing administrators to mark a service for "resubmission" from a billing and reimbursements perspective. Once flagged, a new tab will appear on the Reimbursements page, containing all flagged services.
An update was made to improve the scrolling on smaller devices.
A "typeahead" option was added to list fields, providing users with hints based on previously entered information.
Two new reports were added to help analyze the number of appointments per day, as well as breaking down the appointments by client case.
The download option from all searches were updated to only include the columns visible on the page. Previously, all possible columns were part of the download.
The "Show in Summary" option was added to custom fields for services and service groups. Fields with the option checked will have their values displayed as details in list views that contain services and service groups.
The service group search was overhauled to allow searches based on the status of specific activities.
A number of minor updates were made to the ticketing module including the addition ticket search.
For services on the Reimbursements page, a check was added to ensure a billed date is set prior to setting a paid date.
A number of minor bugs were fixed, and error/warning messages were updated to be more user friendly.
Several new forms were added to the library, as well as new versions of several existing forms.

July 1

A new role permission has been added, which allows authorized users to designate specific files as "restricted." Only staff members with the "Manage Restricted Files" can access these files.
Custom fields can now be added to service groups. These will function the same way as custom fields in other areas of the system, and can be used to help bulk up the data collection options for service groups.
A "List" custom field type has been added. The field allows an administrator to set up the data points they would like to capture in the list. Once applied, users will be able to add multiple entries to the list. Functionally, this works similar to the "Caregivers/Contacts" list, but with custom columns.
Secondary diagnoses can now be added to a client's case. These will also be included in the billing export.
A new configuration option is available to restrict the billing rates available for a service to only the billing rates being tracked.
Custom fields can now be sorted by updating their position. This replaces the drag/drop function that was causing challenges for large field lists.
The payroll page was updated to better track paid and unpaid services.
Support for international facility addresses has been added.
Billing rates can now be tracked not just at the client level but also at the client case level.
If a service is made without an associated client, a client can now be associated at a later time. A button as been added to the header, which allows for the assignment.
The service plan deployment page has been updated to allow staff members to update the staff member, billing rate, and client case across all steps (in addition to still being able to modify individual steps).
Several NCW forms were updated.
Several minor UI updates were made, including the addition of a "sticky" error message, which will better communicate to users that an error has occurred.

June 1

Administrators can now provide report-by-report access to specific staff members. This can be done from the individual report itself.
Default billing rates can now be set at the case level, allowing for more detailed workflows.
An activity filter was added to the service list and calendar views.
A number of forms were added and/or updated in the form library.
Schedules were updated to support the "conflict limit" being set during specific times of the day, as opposed to being required to be set at the schedule level.
A permission was added, which allows staff members to be able to create/edit/delete services for all clients, without the need to be added as an specific care manager for each client or listed as a full administrator.
The "deploy plan" UI was updated to include the ability to create the services and immediately view the first service.
Time totals have been added to the payroll detail where unit-to-time conversions are available.
A staff filter was added to the client's service history on the client's profile.
The reimbursements page was updated to load the services first, and then validate them for billing (if enabled). This has greatly reduced timeouts and should allow billers to continue to load large datasets without any errors.
A bug was fixed, so that staff can now update approved services while keeping them approved.
The ticket module now allows tickets to be opened by staff members, not just clients.
The ability to "create and link" a service directly from a ticket has been added to improve workflow.
A number of minor bug fixes and updates were also completed.

May 1

Custom fields can now be added to staff profiles. This will allow organizations to customize and track profiles quickly and easily. Along with this update, an advanced search page was added for staff members as well. This follows the pattern in place from the service and client searches.
Two new notifications were added, and are configurable. These new notifications, when enabled, will provide alerts for overdue services as well as unscheduled services.
A report was added to display the summary of services provided over a given timespan.
An option was added to allow specific caregivers to receive service-related notifications when one is being sent to a client they care for. This can be enabled on a caregiver-by-caregiver basis from the client profile and affects service reminders and service confirmations.
Service addenda can now be added. This feature can be used to add notes to services that have already been completed and, possibly, billed.
A billing rate summary was added to the service history listed on staff profiles.
The notification engine used for the ticketing module was refined and updated.
A bug with the scheduler search was fixed so that client availability (based on information in the system) could be calculated accurately.
The action buttons for saving and deleting steps when modifying a service plan were moved to produce a more user-friendly experience.
A "staff" filter was added to the reimbursements page.
An update was made to the .edi export so that facilities without a name in the system will fallback to their friendly name for the export.
Several forms were updated for accuracy and improved usability.
ICD10 code accuracy was added to the reimbursement validation that it is an accurate and up to date code.
The text-based service search from the client profile's service history will now highlight the searched for text where it is found.
A "case" filter was added to the service history on a client's profile.
The query that runs when pulling services for reimbursement was refined and optimized.
Time tracking was added to tickets.
Tickets that are linked to a service can now be viewed from the service.
Billing rate was added as a filter option for the service search.
Billing rate can be updated, in bulk, from Reimbursements page.

April 1

Activity-level custom fields now support variables (similar to our digital forms). This now means that a fully functional form can be created simply using custom fields. Standard, digital forms will continue to be offered and supported for cases where specific documents are needed (ie official state forms). However, for forms that can have a custom format, utilizing activity fields will provide a great user experience with additional controls over required fields, dropdown fields, etc.
A "ticketing" feature has been added for organizations that have an active client portal and wish to have a way to open and track support-style tickets. This adds a second communication pathway, with more focus around a specific subject than the basic chat module. The tickets module will continue to be expanded and improved in the coming weeks.
A new setting was added to include the chat message in chat notification emails. This is a universal setting applicable to those that do not require HIPAA-level security in their chats and aren't communicating sensitive PHI.
Attachments are now able to be added to chat messages.
An update was made so that the calendar views will always show the end times, in order to simplify configuration and provide the best user experience.
For environments where the client portal is enabled, service confirmation notifications will now be sent for client-created and staff-created services. Previously, notifications were only sent for client-created services.
Quite a few minor usability bugs were fixed, which should lead to a smoother, more efficient user experience.
Updated copies of several New Choices Waiver forms were added.
A bug was discovered and addressed relating specifically to having a modal window (ie digital form editor) open in HealtheFirst, in Safari, on an iPad. After navigating to another app, then reopening Safari, the modal window would be half invisible. This is a Safari bug that our team was able to workaround by reloading the window automatically in this situation.
A Scheduler bug was addressed where only client availability was being considered, staff availability was being ignored when looking for conflicts. Both availabilities and conflicts are now being calculated correctly.

February 26

A number of enhancements to the activity custom fields were implemented. The updates, cumulatively, have added so much more functionality, that they have been cumulatively labelled a new feature. Enhancements include...
- A signature field was added as an option. This field can also have an image as a background if the use-case lends itself to drawing as opposed to a signature.
- The addition of value histories to each custom field.
- The ability to format all of the fields into a single pdf was implemented. This allows for activity custom fields to be used as a digital form.
- The ability to use auto-complete keywords was added.
- "Required" fields can now be added with appropriate parties being reminded of any missed fields via email and message within the system.
- On a related note, activities can now be linked together so that administrators can configure the system to, for example, always include Activity B whenever Activity A is added. This will allow for "custom field forms" to be used in multiple use cases without needing to recreate the form.

Caregivers were added as an possible members of chat groups.
Added billing rate breakdowns to the payroll table for each staff member.
A minor update was made to maintain the service location for organizations with multiple locations.
A permission was added so that only staff members with the permission can delete a client.
An update was made to check for the "can delete billed services" permission before attempting to delete a service file. This was not being checked previously, which meant that files could not be deleted if the service was completed and billed.
The ability to add and maintain a client photo was added back into the system.

February 5

Users can now download client files from the service list in a client's profile. This allows users to download files for a specific time period, and files will be downloaded with the service id in the name in order to allow for easier matching to exported services.
Service plan steps can now contain descriptions. Descriptions can accompany activities or steps can contain only descriptions. This should allow more context to be provided to staff members who are fulfilling services and should also minimize the need for too many "text-only" activities.
Custom statuses can now be added to service groups. This allows staff members to provide better feedback on their progress through the group by allowing for statuses like "Ready for Nurse" or "Visit #1 Completed." More details can be found in the service group editor.
A new "use mobile controls" button was added to the navigation window, which allows users to manually enable "mobile" mode where a mobile device wasn't able to be detected. This was necessary due to Apple's push to market the iPad (and iPad Pro) as true laptop replacements. In doing so, they have removed all tags that developers can use to identify an iPad versus a Mac. This inability to recognize touch-focused device like an iPad can cause issues and conflicts with the virtual keyboard, and the new button is our current solution to this issue.
All of the pages have been moved to use a similar layout template. This should provide a more consistent experience for users.
Minor changes were made to the client import process to streamline the template based on configured fields.
Configurable time intervals were added and applied to schedules and scheduling searches.
An issue was found and fixed where client file folders with apostrophes were causing issues.
In an effort to simplify settings, the "Show End Time" setting was removed, and end times will be shown for all organizations.
Minor style changes were made to the login, authentication, and password reset pages.
The scheduler results were changed to allow for more time slots to be shown at once. This should allow for easier navigation and time slot selection.
Default start and end times for the availability slider on the scheduler page was added.

January 15

Service reminders can now be configured to be sent to clients X hours ahead of their appointments.
An email option was added as an option for two-factor authentication. HealtheFirst recommends using an authenticator app, but email is an alternative, HIPAA-secure option for authentication.
A date picker was added to the service calendar views to allow for easier navigation.
The client file view has been updated to include additional service information, as it relates to the file.
Staff schedules and availability features have been overhauled to allow easier manipulation and more specific schedules to be created, including the ability to set schedules for certain time periods, to set a "working from" location for each schedule, and set a number of overlapping appointments allowed.
"Relationships" and "notes" can now be set for client caregivers.
Approval workflow has been improved to allow better navigation between individual services and the approval list.
A minor issue with approved unit enforcement was resolved.
Client status was added to the service list.
Updates and improvements were made to keyword-specific client searches.
New custom field types and features were added, including a long text field and a description that can be added to any field that can contain additional text to help users.
A new scheduler configuration option was added to allow for more start time options in the scheduler results.