Articles in this section

See more

SO004 Disease Codes

  • Updated
Standard Order Category: Category 2
Who should fulfill this SO? SO Analyst
Link to the SO request form: http://communitysystems.vch.ca/published/UR_-_Diagnoses_Contact_Titles_(VCH).pdf

Reminder to please follow the Standard Order Guidelines on top of the specific instructions outlined below.


Background
Prerequisite: Requester to Complete the SO Request Form
Prerequisite: Analysis
Prerequisite: Approval from Clinical Informatics
Fulfillment Instructions
     Create a New Disease Code
     Modify an Existing Disease Code Description

 

Background

Note: the SO request form PDF is labeled as Diagnoses/Contact Titles as these are the most comprehensive terms a user when looking for the request form; Disease Code is an internal terminology.

Disease codes are used as a way of classifying complex medical terminology into manageable codes that are meaningful to the POSes. Customized disease codes can then be linked to widely used termsets such as ICD-9, and can be reported on.

Examples of groups of customized disease codes are 

Prerequisite: Requester to Complete the SO Request Form

If a request was received for this Standard Order but without using the SO request form, send the form's URL link to the requester. After receiving the form submission, ensure all the mandatory fields are completed before proceeding. If not, discuss further with the requester.

Prerequisite: Analysis

Always search for an existing Disease Code before creating for a new one, and ensure that the one specified for modification exists.

  1. Sign into Production EMR using an account with a Sys Admin or Support Analyst role
  2. Go to Maintain > Disease Codes to open the Disease Code window
  3. Type the new code/description in the Code field and then click Search   
       a. If the code does not exist (no results after the search), follow the steps in Create a new Disease Code section
       b. If the code exists, follow the steps in the Modify an existing Disease Code description section

Prerequisite: Approval from Clinical Informatics

Clinical Informatics approval is required. Once the requester has completed the SO request form and the main SO JIRA has been created:

  • Set the JIRA status to Waiting for Approval
  • Attach the SO Request Form to the JIRA
  • Create a subtask for CO004CIS Approval for EMR-XXXXX, where EMR-XXXXX is the JIRA ID. Assign it based on the CIS based on the Clinical Informatics Specialist (CIS) - Matrix

Fulfillment Instructions

Create a subtask for SO004 Implementation for EMR-XXXXX, where EMR-XXXXX is the JIRA ID. Assign it to yourself. Note: do not create this subtask earlier while waiting for CIS Approval; create it only once CIS has approved. If this is not followed, this will report inaccurate metrics for the monthly performance reports.

Create a New Disease Code

  1. Sign into EMR DEV using an account with a Sys Admin or Support Analyst role
  2. Click on the New icon
  3. Enter the description text provided in the Description field
  4. Enter in the code provided in the Code field
          a. Be mindful of customized disease codes such as NURS, YCC, and SHX
          b. Leave Group field blank unless specifically indicated
  5. Click OK button to save the new Disease Code
  6. Do a quick test to confirm the disease code is searchable
  7. If all is good, proceed to do the same change into Profile EMR Production
  8. Using the generic ADMIN user account, add the changes done above to EMR VTM. This is so both Training and Self-Training environments will get this update on next refresh
  9. Contact the requester regarding the request's completion
  10. If creating a new SHx code, update External Zendesk article

Modify an Existing Disease Code Description

  1. Sign into EMR DEV using an account with a Sys Admin or Support Analyst role
  2. In the list of matching code/description, select the code that needs to be modified
  3. Enter the new description for this entry in the Description field
  4. Click OK to save changes
  5. Do a quick test to confirm the disease code is searchable and has the updated values
  6. If all is good, proceed to do the same change into Profile EMR Production
  7. Using the generic ADMIN user account, add the changes done above to EMR VTM. This is so both Training and Self-Training environments will get this update on next refresh
  8. Contact the requester regarding the request's completion
  9. If modifying an existing SHx code, update External Zendesk article