Plans of Care in SOAP 1.0 (Medicare)

Let’s review the process of faxing a Plan of Care and uploading a signed Plan of Care to a patient’s chart.

1. You can create a Plan of Care document on the Plan tab of any evaluative note by checking the Create Plan of Care Document box, selecting a Frequency, and entering the From and To dates. For more information, please see: Plan of Care FAQs.  
   
2. After a Plan of Care has been created, select Fax it from the drop-down menu and press the Play button. 
   
3. In the window that opens, the Address Book will automatically include the Referring Physician in the To field. You can add additional recipients and include a message. When ready, click the Send Fax button. For more information, please see: How to Fax a Document.
4. The note drop-down will change to Upload Physician Signature once complete. Also, an icon will appear on the entry to signify that it has been faxed. 
   
5. Run the Plan of Care Report for Signature status to see all documents that are overdue for a signature, waiting for a signature response, not yet sent out for signature, or have already been signed. 
   
6. You will also see alerts throughout the application. For more information, please see Plan of Care Alerts.
7. After receiving the signed Plan of Care, navigate to the patient’s chart and ensure the Records section is selected.                                          
   
8. Locate the Plan of Care and click the Play button next to Upload Physician Signature. This will open the eDoc section. 
   
9. Use Quick Scan or Browse to queue the signed POC for upload into the application. Be sure to select Plan of Care as the Document Type, mark the file as a Signed Document, and indicate the Assigned Case, Assigned Note, and signing Physician. For more information, please see: Using eDoc in a Patient's Chart.        
   
10. Once all of the information has been entered, select Save Document to attach the signed POC to the patient’s case. 
    
11. On the patient’s chart, the action menu for the Plan of Care entry will change from Upload Physician Signature to View PDF. You’ll also notice a pencil icon appears indicating a signed document. 
    

What do I do when the Plan of Care expires?

Once the Plan of Care expires, the therapist won’t be able to complete a daily note until new POC dates are established. If the patient needs to continue treatment, the Therapist must create a new POC using an evaluative note such as a progress note or a re-examination/re-certification note.