Required qualifiers

Some clinical items have required qualifiers that allow multiple providers to contribute to a health assessment over a period of time.

When all qualifiers are complete and the required evidence is recorded, a Medicare claim can be made.

Required qualifiers in a clinical item are displayed in the following way:
  • Required Qualifier, incomplete (red dot) A red dot to the left of the qualifier indicates that this qualifier must be addressed within the period defined as the required interval, for example, 6 months
  • Required Qualifier, complete (blue dot)If the qualifier is addressed within the time interval on any clinical item type for that patient, the dot changes to blue.
If a clinical item is saved and all the required qualifiers with red dots that appeared at the beginning have been addressed, the item has a status of Complete. However, if a required qualifier is not addressed:
  • The item has a status of Incomplete
  • A recall is created so that the provider can address the incomplete information. The recall is listed in the Main Summary > To Do list, prefixed with <Recall>.

    You cannot edit or add a required qualifier for a previously saved incomplete item, for example through the progress notes. Instead you must use the recall to add the information.

Required qualifier information is typically recorded in the Main Summary > Qualifier Summary.

For example, a health service completes a check with required qualifiers in the following way:
  1. The patient first sees a healthworker:
    1. The healthworker opens the patient's clinical record and adds the Check up;Aboriginal & TSI adult to the patient's clinical record.
    2. The healthworker completes the required qualifiers on the Pre-check tab then clicks Save to save the clinical item. A recall is created and added to Main Summary > To Do list, prefixed with <Recall>.
  2. The patient then sees a nurse to have their immunisations:
    1. The nurse opens the patient's clinical record and in the Main Summary > To Do list, double-clicks <Recall>Aboriginal & TSI adult health check.
    2. In the Manage Recall window, the nurse clicks Complete it.
    3. The nurse completes the required qualifiers on the Pre-check tab for the immunisation information then saves the clinical item. The clinical item is still incomplete, so is still listed on the Main Summary > To Do list, prefixed with <Recall>.
  3. The patient now sees a doctor:
    1. The doctor opens the patient's clinical record and in the Main Summary > To Do list, double-clicks <Recall>Aboriginal & TSI adult health check
    2. In the Manage Recall window, the doctor clicks Complete it.
    3. In the clinical item, the doctor reviews the information already recorded then goes to the Examination of the patient tab and records values for the required qualifiers.
    4. On the Assessment of patient tab, the doctor completes the health check and clicks Save.

All required qualifiers were completed, so the clinical item now has a status of Complete and the recall is removed from the To Do list.

For information about setting up clinical items with required qualifiers, see Clinical Item Type Properties.

Editing using the progress note

If you edit the required qualifiers from the progress note, you may encounter the following behaviour:
  • You can edit required qualifier fields entered in the original progress note and any other qualifiers in the same clinical item.
  • If you edit an already complete clinical item using the progress note and by removing a required qualifier render the item incomplete, you must complete the recall to make the clinical item complete again.
  • If you remove required qualifiers that were completed in a different service (even if by a different provider), the original progress note is not affected, but the status of the clinical item may change from complete to incomplete. Complete the recall to remedy this situation.