Cases

Use cases to group a patient's visits into an episode of care with problems, goals, linked visits, status history and discharge outcomes. Owners and admins can turn Cases on from Settings.

Patient chart7 min readUpdated

Cases live in the patient's chart on the Cases tab. A case groups visits into one episode of care, with the problems treated, goals, linked visits and outcome.

How do I turn on Cases?

Owners and admins can turn on Cases in Settings. In the left sidebar, click Settings (at the bottom). In the settings menu, under Configuration, click Cases.

1Settings2Cases
1Cases toggle2What Cases does
  1. Turn on Cases.

The setting saves automatically. If the save fails, Ona shows Couldn't save and restores the last saved setting. When Cases is enabled, the patient chart includes a Cases tab with problems, goals and status tracking.

What information can I record on a case?

Use the Cases tab in a patient's chart to record the information that defines an episode of care. In the left sidebar, click Patients, click the patient's name, then open the Cases tab.

1Cases
1Title2Start date3Primary problem4Secondary problems5Goals

A case requires Title and Start date. You can also add a Description, one Primary problem, Secondary problems and Goals.

Problems can include an ICD-10 diagnosis, a free-text description, or both. Empty problem rows are not saved.

Each goal requires a description. You can also add baseline and target values, a target date, status and term. New goals start with Not started and Short-term selected.

When you create a case, Ona shows Case created. When you update a case, Ona shows Case updated.

How do I add problems to a case?

Use Primary problem and Secondary problems on the case form when you want the episode to show the conditions being addressed. In the left sidebar, click Patients, click the patient's name, then open the Cases tab and open the case form.

  1. In Primary problem, search for and select an ICD-10 diagnosis, or enter a free-text description.
  2. Under Secondary problems, select Add for each additional problem.
  3. Search for an ICD-10 diagnosis or enter a description for each secondary problem.
  4. Select Create case for a new case, or Save changes for an existing case.

The case detail view lists the primary problem first and marks it as primary.

How do I add goals to a case?

Use Goals on the case form to track progress for the episode. In the left sidebar, click Patients, click the patient's name, then open the Cases tab and open the case form.

1Add goal2Goal description3Baseline and target4Target date, status and term
  1. In Goals, select Add goal.
  2. Enter the goal description.
  3. Add baseline and target values if you use measurable targets.
  4. Add a target date if the goal has one.
  5. Choose the goal status and term.
  6. Select Create case for a new case, or Save changes for an existing case.

The case detail view shows how many goals are Met out of the total number of goals.

Goal statuses are Not started, In progress, Met, Not met and Revised. Goal terms are Short-term and Long-term.

How do I view a case and its linked visits?

Open a case from the patient's Cases tab to review the episode without leaving the chart. In the left sidebar, click Patients, click the patient's name, then open the Cases tab.

  1. Select a case from the list.
  2. Review Description, Problems and Goals.
  3. In Linked visits, select a visit to open it.
  4. Review Status history to see status changes and who made them.

If no visits are linked, the case shows No visits linked to this case yet.

What happens when I discharge a case?

Discharging a case records the outcome for the episode. In the left sidebar, click Patients, click the patient's name, then open the Cases tab and open the case. The Discharge case dialog requires Discharge reason. Discharge date is filled with today's date when the dialog opens.

The Discharge button is unavailable until you choose a Discharge reason. After discharge, the case status shows Discharged, and the discharge reason appears in the case detail header.

Available discharge reasons are Goals met, Plateau, Self-discharged, Referred out and Lost to follow-up.

Case statuses

Open the case detail view by clicking Patients in the left sidebar, clicking the patient's name, opening the Cases tab and selecting a case. The case detail view shows the current status beside the case title and keeps a Status history.

Available case statuses are Planned, Active, On hold, Discharged and Cancelled.

What can't I do here?

Cases have these limits:

  • Staff and clinicians cannot turn Cases on or off from Settings.
  • A case cannot be saved without a Title and Start date.
  • A goal cannot be saved without a description.
  • You cannot select Discharge until you choose a Discharge reason.

Common questions

What is a case?

A case groups a patient's visits into one episode of care. It stores the problems being treated, goals, linked visits, status changes and discharge outcome.

Can a case have more than one problem?

Yes. A case can have one Primary problem and multiple Secondary problems. Each problem can use an ICD-10 code, a free-text description, or both.

Can I add goals after creating the case?

The case form supports adding, removing and updating Goals when editing an existing case.

Where do linked visits appear?

Open the case detail view by clicking Patients in the left sidebar, clicking the patient's name, opening the Cases tab and selecting a case, then look under Linked visits. Selecting a linked visit opens that visit.

Why can't I discharge a case?

The Discharge button stays unavailable until you choose a Discharge reason.

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