During a given day you will have many interactions with TFM data. Many different kinds of information is entered in TFM and many of the data items are repeatedly entered (ex: area code). TFM provides the Preferences mechanism to help automate the entry of repeated data. You simply enter the default values in the TFM Preferences and TFM will use them throughout the application, simplifying your task.
| Documented Preferences: | Registration | Format | Directory | EDI | Help | Scheduler | Database |
At the time you register a new patient or guarantor, there are many pieces of
information that need to be entered. What you will find is that from patient to patient
much of the data is the same. The fields in the Registration tab will make
entering a new patient an easier task. The fields you can set preferences for
include:
Throughout the TFM dialog there are many date and time fields. The format tab
provides a mechanism for you to set the kind of date and time formats that
you would like stored in your system. TFM will read what ever the user types
and convert it to the format that you specify. In the example image to the right
you see the following fields:
TFM can read and write files that contain your practice data. You specify the
directory where these files are kept. You can specify directories for the following:
To specify a directory for the first three items, simply select the Set button and pick a directory of choice. In the example there are separate directories for each item. All the directories are in a shared area for all ser to access.
The last directory is specified be clicking with the mouse on the logo which brings up the directory selection dialog allowing you to select a different logo.
There are many pieces of information that need to be specified for proper
electronic transmission of data to a payer. These include:
Since the TreFre Medical Scheduler is very graphical in nature, colors are utilized to indicate when appointments are single, double, or more than double booked. The colors that are used can be selected by the office staff. The first three Set buttons will open color choosers allowing these selections. The fourth Set button is used to specify the color for reserved blocks of time. The last Set button is used to assign a background color for all TFM windows.
Some offices wish to track old appointments for historical purposes and deletion (inadvertent or intentional) of appointments is not preferred. For this reason, a set of buttons is provided that allows the specification of a preference of what to do when the user attempts to delete an appointment. The valid choices are to Just Delete, Mark Missed, Mark Cancelled, and Mark Note Sent. The default is Just Delete.
Some offices may wish to utilize the appointment status field to maintain patient appointment history (ex: closed, missed, late...). A set of buttons is provided to specify a preference of what to do when an encounter is saved. A typical use to be to have TFM automatically find an appointment on the same day as the encounter, set the appointment status to Closed, and if an appointment is not located on the same day, provide a selectable list of appointments to choose from. The valid choices for this preference are to Auto Close/Ask, Remind , and Do Nothing. The default is Auto Close/Ask.
TFM keeps all of the data for the practice in one database. This database is
running on one of the computers in your local area network. The following information
tells your copy of the TFM application were to find the database on the network.
Typically, only the Computer Name will be modified after installing TFM.
When you are finished setting all of the preferences in any of the tabs discussed above
select the Save button. This causes the preferences to be written to the
database. If you decide that you do not want to keep the changes you have
made to the preferences select the Cancel button.