How to Define a Patient ID

Use the Patient Record to enter a unique Patient Identification number (ID) for each patient. The Patient ID is displayed in the Patient Snapshot, and can be used as a search term for finding patients.

To define a Patient ID:

1. From a Patient tab, select Patient Record.
2. Under Actions, select Edit Patient Record. The Patient ID field becomes active.
   
3. To create a Patient ID, do one of the following:
   - Manually enter a unique patient identification number, such as an ID that existed in a previous system or that links to other types of records.
   - Click Generate ID to generate the number automatically.
   Tip: You also can adjust your practice settings to automatically assign Patient IDs upon creating new patient records or updating and saving existing records. See How to Automatically Assign Patient IDs for more information.   
4. Click Save Patient. 

Note:
-- System generated IDs consist of the first three letters of the patient's last name + MM + YY. (The month and year are the month and year that the patient record is initially created and saved).
-- If another patient's last name begins with the same three letters, the generated ID is appended with with an additional numeric digit so that it remains unique.

Displaying Patient IDs on Patient Tabs

You can also choose to display the Patient ID on the Patient Tab in Sensei Cloud.

To enable this setting:

1. From the Administration tab, select Practice Settings > General.
2. Click Edit General Settings.
3. Navigate to the Patient Record section.
   
4. Next to Display Patient ID on Patient Tab, select Yes.
5. Click Save.

Chart ID

The patient record also has an optional Chart ID field to help distinguish patient records. 

The Chart ID field is alphanumeric and can contain up to 36 characters. Special characters (beyond common punctuation like periods or colons) are not permitted. The Chart ID can be the same as the Patient ID if needed.

Chart IDs can be included in certain reports including the Patient List Report and Transaction List Report. See How to Generate Transaction Reports and How to Generate Patient List Reports for more information. 

Note: You can also use the Chart ID when using the Search Patients field. 

External Reference ID (Converted Customers)

For conversion customers, a read-only External Reference ID field has been added to the Patient Record window that displays the patient’s ID used to map the patient account to his or her imaging repository. For converted patient records, this ensures that when the imaging bridge has been installed and the imaging acquisition software is launched, the patient’s existing images are available for review, and any new acquisitions will be stored in the correct place.

Note: For non-converted patient records, this field is populated with the same value as the Patient ID (if already defined) or the patient’s internal ID (if the Patient ID field has not been defined).