Balm

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Plan of care

Sign a plan of care with goals, frequency and duration, and have the referring physician certify it from an emailed link.

A plan of care sets an episode's goals, frequency and duration. The treating therapist signs it, and the referring physician certifies it from a link in their email. The physician needs no Balm account.

Write and send a plan

  1. In the client's file, open Write a plan of care under Plan of care. If you have signed an initial evaluation for this client, its diagnoses and goals are filled in for you.
  2. Enter the Diagnoses (ICD-10), Short-term goals, Long-term goals, Frequency (for example 2 times a week), Duration (weeks), Start of care and Planned interventions.
  3. Enter the Referring physician and their Physician email.
  4. Type your full name and check your Credentials to sign the plan as the treating therapist, then select Sign and send to physician.

The physician gets an email from the clinic with a private link to the plan. The email itself does not name the patient. The link expires after 30 days. If mail is not set up, Balm shows the link once so you can send it yourself. A plan cannot change once it is sent. To change it, write a new plan.

The physician signs

The link opens the plan: the patient, diagnoses, goals, frequency and duration, the certification period and the therapist's signature. The physician enters their name, credentials and, optionally, their 10-digit NPI. They confirm that the services are needed under this plan, then select Sign plan of care. The link can sign once.

The certification period runs from the start of care for the plan's duration, up to 90 days.

Signed or not, on the case

The client's file shows each plan as Plan of care signed by the physician on the date they signed, or Plan of care not signed yet with who it was sent to and when. The Schedule shows the same line on each of the client's visits. Reception sees this status and the dates, but not the plan itself.

If the physician has not signed, open the plan and select Send a new link to the physician. The earlier link stops working.

Every sending, opening by the physician, signature and read is recorded in the client's access audit.