How do I add a new family member or link existing patients together as a family?
If a member of the family is already entered in OD Link, you may use the head of household (parent) to DUPLICATE the shared data to minimize typing.
OD Link Home Page
Click on "Patient"
If a member of the family is already entered in OD Link, you may use the head of household (parent) to DUPLICATE the shared data to minimize typing.
First, find the "head of household" by doing a "find or search." When doing a find, you can type in a few letters of the first and last name.
The head of household member's information will come up.
Click add "+" to put in the new patient.
Choose "Similar" to use the family's common information previously entered (i.e. last name, address, phone number, insurance information).
Continuing the example for choosing Similar, enter the first name and birthday of the new patient. Change the last name if necessary.
The screen will populate with most of the information
Complete the patient's record: 1. Gender 2. Insurance number 3. Relationship to insured.
To Combine existing patients into a family
Patients each have their own individual unique patient Number (1). Patient ID's are assigned by OD Link and should never be changed or edited in any way. To link patients together into a family they must all share the same account Number (2) Account numbers can be changed anytime you would like. You should choose an account number for the entire family. Normally the account number that works best is the patient number for the head of household or oldest child if you only see the children. Go into the father or mother or oldest child and jot down the patient number. You will use this for all family members.
In this example you can see that Fred's patient number is 36933. He is the head of household. You will use 36933 for all members of the household including Fred himself. Make sure Fred's account number is the same as his patient number and jot down this number.
Next go into each family member's name and change their account number to match Fred's. In this example you will change Wilma's account (NOT patient number) to match Fred's.
The above step only changes future records to be part of the new family. If family members have existing transaction records, you will need to go into each of those individually and add them to the family. This is necessary in order to be able to view the family's total balance on each member's patient screen. If you have old transaction with no balance you could skip this step if you do not need them to show up in the family account.
To change an existing transaction and attach it to the family: Click on the detail box next to the transaction date.
In each transaction find the account field and change it to match Fred's account number. Remember to NEVER change the patient number. Only change the account number.
If done correctly, you will see the entire family's transaction history under the accounts box.