When a new Service is created, there are three types of dates used to specify when a first Visit should take place.
These dates will auto-populate from Referrals that have been used to create a new Service or update an existing Service. They can also be manually entered and edited from the Service profile.
Required First Visit Date
If this field is set on the Service, scheduling a first Visit after this date will return a warning under the date field: "First visit of service not should happen after YYYY-MM-DD," where the date shown is the Required First Visit Date set in the Latest Referral Info on the Service profile.
To view the Required First Visit Date, go to the Services tab on the Client's profile and select the Service. The Required First Visit Date will be shown under the Latest Referral Info.
To update the date manually, click Edit Latest Referral Info.
Enter a date in the Required First Visit Date field and click Save.
Date Service Required By
If the Required First Visit Date is not set, the system will revert to using the Service Required By Date. If set, scheduling a first Visit after the Service Required By Date will trigger a warning: "First visit of service should not happen after YYYY-MM-DD," where the date shown is the Service Required by Date.
To view the Date Service Required By, go to the Services tab on the Client's profile and select the correct Service. The Date Service Required By will be shown under the Latest Referral Info.
To update the date manually, click Edit Latest Referral Info.
Enter a date in the Date Service Required By field and click Save.
These fields are configured according to a hierarchy so that the Required First Visit Date takes priority over Date Service Required By. This means that if a Required First Visit Date is set, it will supersede the Date Service Required By as the date indicated in the warning.
Service Start Date
This is the Start Date that was entered when the Service was created. To view a Start Date for a Service, go to the Services tab on the Client's profile and choose the correct Service. The Start Date will be listed under Details.
To change the Service Start Date, click Edit Service.
Enter a new Start Date and then click Save.
Scheduling Conflicts and Reason Codes
If you attempt to schedule a first Visit for a Service after the date set in Required First Visit Date or Service Visit Required By, you will receive a warning under the date field.
A warning will also be triggered if an Employee is dragged and dropped into a schedule for a Service on a day which conflicts with first Visit date information as well as when Visits are moved to an earlier conflicting date.
However, you can still save Visits that are in conflict with the dates set in the Latest Referral Info.
If you would like to track first Visit warning overrides, you can configure Reason Codes in Accounting>Accounting Settings>Reason Codes.
Once you have created and enabled at least one Reason Code, you will be prompted to enter a Reason Code whenever you override a first Visit date. This field is mandatory.
Once a Reason Code is entered while scheduling a Visit, it is stored at the Service level. This means that a Reason Code will not be asked for again if new conflicting Visits are scheduled, even by users without permission to enter Reason Codes and override Service Start Date warnings.
The use of Reason Codes can be tracked in Data Exploration.