Configuring cases, care plans, and discharge letters

These settings live in three places in Settings: Cases and Care Plans under Care, and Discharge Letters under Charting. Review them before your team starts using cases, care plans, or discharge and termination letters in patient care workflows.

How do I turn on cases?

In Settings, under Care, use Cases when you want patient charts to group visits into an episode of care with problems, goals, status tracking, and outcomes.

Use the switch in Cases (1) to turn the feature on or off for the whole practice.

1. In the left sidebar, click Settings.
2. In the settings menu, under Care, click Cases.
3. Turn Cases on.
4. Select Save changes.

After the change saves, patient charts can show cases for that patient. In the left sidebar, click Visits, open a visit, and use Link case in the visit header to attach that visit to an existing case.

If the save fails, Ona shows Couldn't save and keeps your unsaved change on the page so you can try again.

For help using cases after they are enabled, see Cases.

How do I turn on care plans?

In Settings, under Care, use Care Plans when your clinic is ready to use forward-looking, patient-facing plans of care.

Use Settings (1) in the left sidebar to open practice settings. Then, under Care, select Care Plans (2).

On the page, the switch in Care Plans (1) turns the feature on for the whole practice. The switch in Chronic Care Management (2) controls whether your team can track care-management time.

1. In the left sidebar, click Settings.
2. In the settings menu, under Care, click Care Plans.
3. Turn Care Plans on.

After the setting is on, your team can use care plans with health concerns, goals, and recommendations patients can follow between visits. Your team can also use reusable protocols, publish patient-facing versions with downloadable PDFs, and track goals with targets and review dates.

Ona saves the change automatically. If the save fails, Ona shows Couldn't save and restores the last saved setting.

For help building and using plans after they are enabled, see Building care plans.

How do I configure chronic care management?

In Settings, under Care, use Care Plans to configure Chronic Care Management when your team needs to log care-management time between visits and turn it into monthly CCM billing work.

Use the switch in Care Plans (1) first if care plans are not already on. Then use Track care-management time (2) to add a care-management tab where staff log minutes against a patient's plan.

1. In the left sidebar, click Settings.
2. In the settings menu, under Care, click Care Plans.
3. Turn Care Plans on if it is not already on.
4. In Chronic Care Management, turn Track care-management time on.
5. Enter Minimum billable minutes. This is the number of minutes needed in a calendar month before CCM can be billed.
6. Enter Place of service code. This is the two-digit CMS code used on CCM claim lines.

Ona saves these settings automatically. When no saved value is present, Minimum billable minutes shows 20 and Place of service code shows 11.

Minimum billable minutes must be a whole number of at least 1. Place of service code must be exactly two digits.

For help using time tracking after it is enabled, see Care Time and chronic care management.

How do I customize discharge letters?

In Settings, under Charting, use Discharge Letters to customize the parts of discharge and termination letters your clinic controls, including wording, optional contents, continuity-of-care resources, and closing text.

Use Settings (1) in the left sidebar to open practice settings. Then, under Charting, select Discharge letters (2).

Use Service name (1) if the heading should name your specialty. Use Grace period (2) for how long emergency care and refills continue. Use Records request phone (3) if patients should call a specific number for records. Turn Current prescriptions (4) on when the letter should print active medications as a table.

1. In the left sidebar, click Settings.
2. In the settings menu, under Charting, click Discharge Letters.
3. In Wording, enter Service name if the letter heading should name your specialty. Leave it blank if you do not want to name your specialty.
4. Set Grace period to the number of days emergency care and refills continue.
5. Enter Records request phone if patients should call a specific number for a copy of their records.
6. In Contents, turn Current prescriptions on if the letter should print the patient's active medications as a table. Leave it off if you do not prescribe.
7. In Continuity of care, select Add resource to list organizations that help patients find a new provider. Each resource needs a name, and the link is optional.
8. In Closing text, add Emergency support and a Closing paragraph if your clinic needs custom wording.

After the settings save, letters signed from then on use these settings.

For help using letters after setup, see Discharge and termination letters.

How do I choose which discharge reasons are offered?

On the same page in Discharge Letters, use Reasons offered to limit which reasons clinicians can choose on discharge and termination letters. If you leave none selected, all reasons are offered.

Use Reasons offered (1) to find the section and see how many reasons are currently selected. Each checkbox (2) turns one reason on or off.

1. On the same page, go to Reasons offered.
2. Select each reason your clinic wants to offer.

After the settings save, the section shows how many reasons are selected. With no selections, all reasons are offered.

What can't I do here?

In Cases, Care Plans, and Discharge Letters in Settings, these limits apply:

• Staff and clinicians cannot manage these settings from Settings.
• Cases is a whole-practice setting.
• Care Plans is a whole-practice setting.
• Track care-management time depends on Care Plans.
• Minimum billable minutes must be a whole number of at least 1.
• Place of service code must be exactly two digits.
• Discharge letter formal notice wording and e-signature attestation text are not editable here.
• Changes to discharge letter settings apply to letters signed after the change. They do not change letters that were already signed.

Common questions

What does turning on Cases add?

It adds case tracking to patient charts and visit workflows. Cases can include problems, goals, status tracking, ICD-10 coded primary and secondary problems, linked visits, and discharge outcomes.

What does turning on Care Plans add?

It enables care plans with health concerns, goals, and recommendations patients can follow between visits. Your team can also use reusable protocols, publish patient-facing versions with downloadable PDFs, and track goals with targets, review dates, and outcomes.

How does CCM relate to Care Plans?

In Settings, Track care-management time is part of Care Plans, so turn on Care Plans before you configure CCM fields.

Why would I leave discharge reasons unselected?

Leaving every reason clear makes the full list available to clinicians.

Do discharge letter changes affect letters that were already signed?

No. Changes here apply to letters signed after the update. Letters that were already signed are not changed.