Articles, Posts and Blog

Services and Programs that appear on Avimark Servers

February 17, 2019 by

Here is a developing list of Services and Programs that appear on Avimark Servers I work with...as of Feb 12, 2019. All of these are legitimate, and some can be controlled by Avimark Service Control tool, most cannot. Starting and stopping these must be done in the Windows Services control center, or by looking for the program running on the Server in Task Manager and "ending task" from there. Some can interfer with normal utility functions associated with Avimark if running while doing Index Rebuilds, Avimark Updates, Avimark Backups, and some Other Utilities. I am trying to get a more complete list of additional ones and what company controls or uses them. Which ones are data-mining, which are not etc. I am sure there are more. Will repost when I know more.

AllyDVM
AVImarkServer
AVImarkSyncPurgeMonitorSvc
CubexSyncService
DPIntegration
GreenlineService
IDEXX Smart Service
IVLSProxyService
IIGatewaySvc
OBScheduler
TrupanionExpressAgent
VDSDirectorService
VetLogicClientService
VetXMLConversationSyncService
VSmartClient

Effective Departing / Discharge Instructions in AVImark…Pros and Cons of Several Methods

April 5, 2018 by

If a line item is not billable then it cannot go on an invoice, nor any attached notes or instructions. Making Notes marked public is necessary if you want to guarantee they print on invoice, but the notes will also print up in the billable section of the invoice which is not too pretty and you must remember to mark it public (and there is no option for auto marking of it as public). Alternatively, if you create a billable treatment ie: "Discharge Instructions" (even though it has a 0.00 price, it can be posted because it is still Blue) to appear on the invoice and in the CID in the medical history. Then right click on the Treatment "Discharge Instructions" and click Doctor's Instructions. Place your instructions in the blue note field. Advantages are that this will always print at bottom of the Invoice under Doctor's Instructions, as long as you put this billable treatment in before posting and it does not have to be marked Public (no option for that even in lower right corner like on regular Note). Only thing is the same about both options is you must put the line item in before posting, and with both methods the line item the Public Note or Doctor's Instructions must be billable (no Q Action Code). The Notes marked public are visible on the CID in the medical history. The Doctor's Instructions will Not, but still print or will go out on emailed invoices, and will be visible on the Patient Chart (printed or viewed - clipboard) but not on the CID in the medical history. Third method for Instructions is to right click over the Patient and select Instructions. These Invoice Instructions for each Patient will also appear at the bottom of the Invoice under Invoice Instructions for "name of pet". With these you must remember to not only get these into the history before posting and before the Invoice prints or they will be stuck there until the patient's next visit...yuk. Once the Invoice prints, these Invoice Instructions will spill into the medical history as the last item posted after the invoice actually prints. If you do not print but only email, these Invoice Instructions do not empty into the medical history properly...yuk. If you print all Invoices at posting, this is usually not a problem.

Effects of Removing Treatments or Items, Obsoleting Correctly, and Retrospective Income Reports

April 5, 2018 by

First of all..removing treatments or inventory from the Tx or Rx lists will not effect whether they appear in a patient's medical history, and does not break the "who got" as long as you can find a patient that has the treatment or item in history later after you have deleted it. You should always remove treatments and items before deleting the category in full that they are stored in, otherwise you will likely get index rebuild errors about treatments or items that do not have a category. Also I never recommend putting obsoleted treatments or items in an obsolete category because of what it will do to your income reporting. I recommend putting a - Action Code of course to obsolete it. Then I add two (2) small zz to front of the description of the treatment or item. Ie: zzAntibiotic 25mg to make it harder to see as it pushes the treatment or item to bottom of the category it is located, but keeps the income for these in the same category, where it always was, for historical purposes. If tracking of anything is unneeded historically, then go ahead and obsolete and delete as mentioned above. Also be very careful with touching any Treatment or Item that has an associated Reminder or Remind As connection. This is of course another topic altogether.

Again, if you want your income reports to stay ok for years going backwards, you should not move things into a giant Obsolete category, but leave them in the category where they always existed and zz the description and obsolete the treatments or items as in an example I have above. If your owner doctor(s) says retrospective reporting of income is not that important, then do as you wish.

IMPORTANCE OF AVIMARK USERS AND SECURITY

April 5, 2018 by

The security feature is designed in such a way as to not affect the use of AVImark, except when a user attempts to do something that they are not authorized to do. This fact makes the security feature transparent to the user. The only extra action required by the user is that they “sign on” when they first start AVImark. If you choose not to make use of the new security feature at all in your hospital, just don't do anything (other than enter your list of doctors and other staff), and the security feature will be completely invisible to you. Likewise, you can choose to protect just a few functions in AVImark and those functions that you have not protected will be automatically available to everyone. There are many functions in the AVImark system that you can control the use of. For example, you will be able to allow certain users to look at information on the CID, but not be allowed to change, add, or delete any account information once the invoice has been printed. You will be able to control who is allowed to make appointments, use hospital scheduling, enter payments and print invoices, change the reminder setup, and the list goes on and on. In fact, as we receive feedback about the security feature, we will be able to allow you to control almost any function that AVImark provides.

THREE THINGS THAT FIXING USERS AND SECURITY, AUDIT TRAIL, AND TIME CLOCK WILL HELP:

1. Intentional bad behavior (money related) within the system by associate doctors, management and employees

2. Unintentional mistakes (money related) within the system by owners, associate doctors, management and employees

3. Unintentional mistakes or mis-steps within the system that SCREWS UP YOUR AVIMARK SYSTEM.

I have seen dozens and dozens of hospitals over the past 20yrs. that have lost tens of thousands of dollars because improper Users and Security, Audit Trail and Time Clock Setup. Also thousands of dollars lost and staff hours lost fixing things that owners and staff should have never been allowed into or to change. Getting your AVImark running correctly costs money, and not fixing it costs more.

Digital Safety, a MUST for 2018!

January 31, 2018January 31, 2018 by

1. Protect your privacy wherever you are connected.

Your phones and tablets need security like your computer and laptops. When you connect to public Wi‑Fi at your local coffee shop or airport or hotel, your phone and personal information may be at risk because those Internet connections may not be secure. Consider using a personal VPN, that encrypts the data you send and receive, at home or on the go.

2. Protect ALL your devices.

Cybercriminals keep coming up with new threats such as ransomware, malware, viruses, and social media hacking. Ensure that all your smartphones, laptops and tablets are secured. See if your current antivirus and internet security subscription may have additional licenses left for more devices? Check the details and make sure ALL your devices are protected.

3. These days criminals don’t just break in, they log on. Be sure to protect all the new electronics you bought over the holidays.

Did you just buy a new smart TV, fridge, or cool new gadget over the holidays? All it takes is one compromised baby monitor or smart thermostat for cybercriminals to potentially infiltrate your network and reach your sensitive data. Make sure you have a newer more secure and powerful Wi‑Fi router with jaw‑dropping speed, network level encryption and unlimited device protection. Some of the new ones can be managed from an App on you cell phone.

4. Protect your personal information. Identity theft is a lot more than just a lost credit card.

In 2016, there was a new victim of identity fraud every 2 seconds.¹ 2017 has been full of data breaches from companies such as Equifax, Forever 21, Uber, Whole Foods, and other big household brands. Those breaches could’ve compromised your identity along with your personal information. A stolen identity could be used to file fake tax returns, apply for a loan or damage your credit. Be sure to get protection against identity theft.

5. Periodically change your passwords.

In a world where "password" is still one of the top passwords, it’s good digital safety to regularly change them. Make sure you’re using lower case and capital letters, numbers and symbols, and combine them into something you can remember. Instead of "mypassword", try as an example "MyP@ssw0rd!". Or if you want something easier, try an identity management service, to help manage your many passwords.

Injections as Treatments or as Items in AVImark…

January 31, 2018January 31, 2018 by

Use a treatment for each injection and attach the matching drug to each in associated treatments and items tab, do not use the surcharge by item price or cost actions codes and make sure you check the allow override radio button in the associated treatments bad items tab, and set the quantity to 0 so user has to set the amount used each time. Question though is, why do this? You are either severely overcharging or losing money by not charging more for each increase in amount used and you have to do 2 more mouse clicks at minimum for each injection vs using the item drug as the drug for the injection using an M or V action code. Only a few areas sometimes actually work better as a treatment with a drug attached generally: anesthesia, fluids, heartworm therapy, a few special drugs, chemotherapy, euthanasia to name a few. I would say 90% of my client hospitals do it this way. Few use treatments as the method of giving injections. There have also always been some inconsistency issues with inventory being used with s treatment not keeping up as well, as just using the inventory (injectable) item directly.

You should always set up your Action code FEES of M, V, P and H under the Advanced Setup (wrench) to make sure all defaults are set for all users...and there you will find that each has a First, Minimum and Additional. Most of my clients set all the fees the same across the three for the P and the H codes. In other words P for Prescription Fee might be $15 for all three, H Handling Fee might be $5 for all three. Injection codes of M and V are sometimes handled differently for each of the three options for M and V. Sometimes clinics set all the M and V injection code field all the same across the board.

M & V - First = $23
M & V - Minimum = $23
M & V - Additional = $23

Other clinics want different fee for M and V. Many times they set the V code to higher and don't think of this being related to IM and IV, but more like high and low injection fee.

M - First = $23
M - Minimum = $18
M - Additional = $18

V - First = $30
V - Minimum = $25
V - Additional = $25

This method allows for the hospital to have lower priced additional injections for a single "same drug" on the "same patient", and "same invoice" (visit) to be slightly lower after the First. You cannot make the Minimum the same as the First if you are going to use the lower priced Additional fee, as it was designed, to give you a lower price injection fee for all additional on a same (repeated) drug on same pet, same open invoice or visit. Most of my client hospitals do not charge less for additional injections of same drug, as the feeling is "an injection is an injection" and costs the hospital the same.

*** The method and explanation above relates to the use of Items for Injections, not Treatments. It would work entirely differently in Treatments and the IV action code when done with Treatments as injections is U...because V means Vaccination on a Treatment. When the M or V is used with Items as injectables it adds the "price per cc" to the Fee (M or V) and that is the price for the injection. Other problems have to be addressed in mixed large animal practices because the clinic has to also sell the bottle of injectable to farm as well as give injections. Topic for another day. ?

Dr. Paul

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