Records For Living Community

I do not know the difference between many of the visit types. I selected "Acute Care" for many of my doctor visits which involved a treatment, but then in my Medical History Summary these visits are all listed as Hospitalizations. None of these visits required hospitilization. What is the difference between "Checkup Exam" and "Diagnosis", and "Ambulatory Care" and "General Medical Treatment", etc. I've tried searching the internet, but have wasted a lot of time and still do not have any definitive guide. Is there a source for your listing of Visit Types that we could refer to, preferably online, so we are entering this correctly? There is probably some importance to the medical community who will see this information to have it right.

Hi, Bob.  Welcome to the HealthFrame User Community Forum!

HealthFrame has a built-in library of concepts that you can access by clicking on the Library link on the Navigation Bar (left).  Once the Library comes up, please click on the "Lookup Reference" button.  Since you're interested in reading up on the definitions of visit types, please change the category from "Any Category" to "Visit Type" and then change the default selection from "Starts With" "Primary Name" to "Any". You can now scroll around the list of built-in visit types and you should be seeing something similar to the image below.

In many cases, you will note there is a description field, which may help you select the visit type you may wish to use.  Also,  you will note that some visit types (such as "Acute Care") are marked as being in the category of "Hospitalization Visit Type".  This default classification is what causes the Medical History Summary to automatically group visits of this type in the 'hospitalization' section.

You should use hospitalization visit types carefully, since hospitalizations are frequently important to doctors who may care for you.  Always double-check your Medical History Summary and make sure that what is listed as a hospitalization makes sense to you as such - otherwise, please select a different type of visit.

Besides identifying hospitalizations, visit types are primarily an organizational criteria that you can currently use for sorting ('visits page') and in the future for filtering and searching.

We hope this helps.  Please let us know if we can be of further assistance,
Support Team

Thanks! This is exactly what I was trying to find. I had pretty much been through the help before starting, and looked through the Library a little, but had not tried the Lookup Reference button.

You might consider adding a "picker" button for visits (like the ones for test type, treatment type, etc.) so people are taken directly into the window with the visit type reference content. Would definitely help a novice get this right the first time when entering visits.

I'm still confused as to which visit to use.  I've followed the links but they contain general information not related to visit type.  For instance, I'm assuming you'd use a Well Person Screening visit for a chest x-ray or blood work as part of your annual physical.  What visit type would you use for the annual physical with your primary care doctor? 

Also, what about a psychiatrist visit for medications?  I think I should be classifying these visits under Checkup Examination including visits to your PCP, psychiatrist, and most specialists (i.e. orthopedics, infectious disease, podiatrists, etc.).  Am I correct in classifying these visits under Checkup Examination?

I'm still new to the software and I'm building in my first of thirty records.  I want to make sure I get the first one correct so I don't repeat my mistakes through all thirty records.

Thanks,

Luke

Luke,

The use of 'visit types' is primarily an organizational construct.  In other words, it's a 'label' that you can attach to your visits that may help you find/report on the visit(s) you're interested in - for instance, you can sort visits by type.

Checkup Examination is described in the reference library as, "a general examination or inspection, especially one carried out by a doctor or dentist."  This would fit your visits above to PCP, psychiatrist, and specialists.  IF you are going to a doctor as part of a follow-up recommended by your doctor, you may wish to track that using the "Follow-up Visit" type.  Here is a scenario that might occur:

• Checkup Examination with your PCP.  Your PCP recommends that you see a specialist to verify that some aspect of your health is in order, e.g. check with a skin cancer specialist that a mole is not cancerous.
• Follow-up Visit with the specialist.  If the outcome is that you had no cancer, then you probably don't see the specialist again.  However, if you require treatment, you may have multiple visits with the specialist at which point the new visits could be "Checkup Examinations" to ensure your treatment is progressing as appropriate.
  

Your understanding of a well person screening visit is also reasonable, given that the purpose of well person screening is to perform health checks designed to help increase the potential for detecting some major conditions and diseases at an early stage.

An important aspect to consider when selecting visit types is to make sure that you are being consistent and that you have looked at the built-in types for a reasonable match to your visit category.  Remember also that you can create your own visit types, for instance, if you prefer to differentiate between Checkup Examination and Annual Physical, you could enter "Annual Physical".

Support Team