Starting Your First Prescription
- Anthony Campana
From the main screen, make sure "New RX" is chosen. To clear open screens and go back to New Rx mode, simply hit "Esc" on your keyboard or the "Cancel" button in the bottom right when on the main processing screen.
Most likely, your insurance file is empty, and before adding a patient it is a good idea to add their insurance into the system, if it not present. Press "F5" on your keyboard, or click the Insurance F5 button with your mouse.
Search for the insurance plan by typing in the name. Occasionally, you'll need to enter a brand new plan into the system; if that's the case, click the "Add New Plan" radio box.
There are a few fields you'll be required to fill out; the Insurance Plan Code, the Insurance Plan name and the BIN number are all necessary. Processor Control Number (PCN) is also often required, but not every insurance company uses it. The Insurance Plan Code is a field for your internal use to quickly identify an insurance. For example, NYM is a name pharmacies in New York often use to describe New York Medicaid, BCBS typically stands for Blue Cross Blue Shield and so forth.
Go ahead and fill out the information as provided on the patient's insurance card. When done, click "Save & Exit" in the bottom left.
Tab down to the patient field either by pressing the "Tab" button on your keyboard, or by clicking the field with the mouse cursor. Also, you can press "F3" on your keyboard, or click the Patient F3 button with your mouse. Since this is your first prescription, you'll most likely need to add a patient into the system as well.
The patient file requires that you input the name, date of birth and gender of the patient; however it's always a good idea to input as much information as possible for future use.
From the main patient screen, click the "Insurance Plans" or press "F9" on your keyboard to move onto entering this patient's insurance information.
Enter the information off the patient's ID in the first available plan; for a new patient it will be Plan 1. Go over the information and make sure it's correct. When done, click "Save Plans".
When done working with the patient click "Save & Exit".
We've made some progress, and it's finally visible on the main prescription screen!
The same goes for the doctor. Most likely, you'll need to enter a new doctor into the system. Go ahead and press "F2" or click on the Prescriber F2 button with your mouse.
The prescriber file only requires you input the doctor's name. However, the insurance company will most likely require their NPI and possibly DEA.
When you're done, click "Save & Exit".
Automatically, your cursor will skip to the drug field, and you will need to add a drug into the system as well.
Drugs can be added multiple ways but most employ either the help of a Master Drug File, or by adding a drug manually. For this step, we'll be using a combination of searching the master drug file and adding a drug directly from it. Also, you can choose to simply search for the drug on the main screen, with the caveat of seeing less information than the master drug file normally provides. Left-click on the "File" section of the top menus and select "8. Search Master Drug File"
This screen will allow you to partial search by name of the medication or NDC.
Type the name of the medication. In this example, we're using a partial search for any Tylenol product, using "tyl" to search.
The records with black lettering on white/beige background are ones that you do not currently have added in the system. The records shaded in gray are ones that are already added in the system. At any point, you can click any one of the records' check box on the left and click the button "Add to Your Drug File" in the bottom left part of the screen. After you have added at least one drug, press the "Exit" button in the bottom right.
Now, back in the Drug field, type a search string for the medication added and select the drug that comes up in the search box; this should be the drug from the previous step.
Continue filling out the prescription indicating the quantities ordered and filled, refills indicated, directions and so forth.
For this prescription, you can "freehand" the directions in the larger Sig box below the Sig search line.
Once you've entered all information, you can verify that it is correct and go ahead and click "Save & Transmit Now" in the bottom left of the screen. In just a few seconds you should see a response from the insurance company and hopefully have your first paid claim!
For further explanation on each menu and topics, please refer to the rest of the manual.