This article will cover the absolute basics you'll need to get the Patients Ability set up and usable for a new office. It is not intended an an exhaustive guide to all the features and customization that go into the Patients Ability.

Configuring the Patients Ability

Setting Up the Default Patient Record

The Default Patient Record determines what fields are filled when you create a new Patient. By filling out fields that will be the same for each Patient, you can save yourself a lot of data entry time.

You can access the Default Patient Record from the Patient Ability. Select "Default" in the sidebar, highlighted in the below screenshot.

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We recommend filling out the area code in your phone number fields if in an area where you predominantly see a common area code for your patients. You can also change the Phone Type labels as needed, or simply to re-order them for your ideal set up. You'll likely want to enter this same information on the Primary/Secondary/Patient tab.

If you're in the US, we recommend checking "Release of Info (box 36)" and "Signature on File (box 37)" on the Primary Tab, visible in the above screenshot.

On the Patient Tab, we recommend setting the "Provider", "Office" and "Fee Schedule" drop down fields to a default value. You can always change these on a per-patient basis, but setting the most common option will save you time when creating new patients. These three fields will automatically be pulled into the New Charge window whenever creating charges for a patient's ledger.
You can also set the Default Office and Provider on the Account tab. 
Also on the Patient Tab, under the Insurance sub-tab, you'll want to set your default HIPAA Release setting. We recommend setting this to "Appropriate Release of Information on File.

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Reviewing Patient Preferences

Next we'll review your Patient Ability Preferences. Navigate to the MacPractice Menu and select Preferences. 

Once the Preference Window is open, scroll down in the sidebar to Patient Ability.

On the General Tab, you'll want to change the Preference "Set Provider and Office when Entering New Patient" to "From the Default Patient Record".

Based on your type of practice, you should set your Referral Type to Transition From or Transition To, depending on whether whether you take in more referrals (Transition From) versus referring more patients to other practices (Transition To).

On the Insurance Tab, we recommend you turn on the Preference to "Show Related Insurance After Entering Employer."

On the Miscellaneous tab, we recommend turning on Preferences to Show Archived, and New Patient Nodes in the sidebar. Later, you may opt to turn off Show Archived, but this is a good setting to start with.

The Duplicate Patients tab allows you to turn on Duplicate Patient warnings to hopefully prevent a user from entering in duplicate patients. If enabled, you can customize the Duplicate Patients check to look for duplicate SSNs, Birthdays, or Names.

Once you're done configuring Preferences, you will need to log out of MacPractice in order for the changes to take effect. You can log out using the MacPractice menu.