What if a patient has more than one insurance carrier?

On the Patient Details screen, you must indicate only one type of insurance for your patient. Select the patient’s primary insurance carrier, either from the carriers listed or “other” if different.

What smoking habits or products should I include in classifying my patients’ “Smoking History” for a Perio Risk Assessment? What about pipe smoking or chewing tobacco?

For PreViser use in a Perio Risk Assessment, based on current research, a "smoker" is limited to cigarette smoking. Other forms of tobacco could be deleterious but there is insufficient evidence at this time to include them in a Perio Risk Assessment. Therefore, do not include cigar or pipe smoking, chewing tobacco, or other activities in classifying a patient's "Smoking History." If the patient has ever smoked a cigarette, you should choose "Former Smoker."

Note that for an Oral Cancer Risk Assessment, the questions relate to several types of tobacco use.

What do I do if my patient lives in Canada, or has some other address variation from the options on the Patient Details screen?

The "Contact Info" section is only for your own use, so you can enter data there in whatever format makes sense to you. You may wish to enter the entire address (province, postal code, etc.) in the "Address" field and leave the rest blank.

Are there any age limitations on the types of patients who can be risk assessed?

In order to transmit the information and perform a risk calculation, Patients must be between one and 89 years old.
A patient must be at least one year old, and in answering questions, you should take into consideration only the time after the date of birth (i.e., do not count prenatal time). For patients over age 89, the RiskCalculator™ is still accurate, but in order to remain HIPAA-compliant in transmitting the information, you need to adjust the Exam Date to change the patient's age. See the Medical Privacy topic for more details about patients age 90 and over.

How do I determine the degree of diabetic control for a patient (as good, fair, or poor)?

See the explanation on the Diabetes Classification page in the Appendix of the User's Guide.

How is the PreViser ID generated?

When you create a new Patient Record, the system assigns a randomly generated code to identify that Patient's health information as belonging to that individual, yet remaining HIPAA-compliant due to its de-identifying quality. See the Medical Privacy topic for more information.

What is the difference between a PreViser ID and a Patient ID?

The PreViser ID is generated by PreViser and cannot be changed. It is a long, randomly generated set of numbers and letters, which is created when the patient’s record is first set up in PreViser. It is the only piece of identifying information that is transmitted over the Internet to and from the PreViser web services (to perform a Risk Calculation or to access a Treatment Option plan, for example). This keeps PreViser’s treatment of the patient’s information “de-identified” as defined by the HIPAA Privacy Rule.

The Patient ID is created by you and can be changed later. Like the rest of the patient’s individual information (address, etc.), it is only stored on your local system, and can be anything you choose to easily recognize and identify a patient’s records - letters and/or numbers. One example of a protocol you might use is First Name and Last Initial (e.g. georgew). Your practice may already have an ID you use to identify patients, so you can use that for consistency, if you like.

How do I enter information for a patient younger than age two - do I take prenatal time into consideration?

A patient needs to be at least one year of age for a PreViser Risk Assessment. Respond to questions counting from the patient’s date of birth as the starting point (e.g. to determine the number of months a one-year-old has been caries free, you would not count the time before that patient was born.

How should I handle a patient referred to me by another practice that has established a PreViser ID for that patient?

When you receive that Patient's records, look for the PreViser ID, then create a new Patient Record in your own system by entering that ID on the blank Patient Details screen. You can then fill in the patient's personal information and have access to the Risk Assessment history. See the tutorial and documentation on creating a new Patient records for more information.