User Guide — Annotation for Documents

Annotation tools in athenaOne

athenaClinicals provides annotation "jotter" tools that work with or without a stylus.

Signature
Signature timestamp
Signature with timestamp
Box option
Checkmark stamp
X-mark stamp
"Today's Date" date stamp
Small font text box
Large font text box

Note: With athenaOne for Hospitals, outpatient departments have access to the annotation tools, but inpatient departments do not.

About the annotate with pen and annotate with tools features

The annotate with pen and annotate with tools links are available on any document in REVIEW status with a file type of PDF, TIF, or DCM.

The annotate with pen feature allows you to "write" on the document with a stylus. This feature is most often used for dates and signatures.

The annotate with tools feature allows you to edit or delete annotations, add signatures and timestamps, and add text to the document.

The "edit annotations" list shows the 10 most used or most recent small-text annotations that you have added to documents. This list can be useful if you annotate documents with repetitive or common information (for example, common forms that require the same text from form to form).

The document thumbnails are marked with an if the page already contains annotation.

Submitting a document by fax after annotation is complete

If you have the Clinicals: Order/Prescription Sign-off permission, the top of the document page includes the Annotation complete. Submit by Fax & Next button. With this option, users who can sign orders with their own credentials can process documents in the inbox quickly.

After you complete the annotation, enter the fax number in the field next to the Annotation complete. Submit by Fax & Next button and then click the button. athenaOne sends the document to the fax number you entered and displays the next document for processing.

Note: For physician authorization documents only, users who have the Clinicals: Order/Prescription Sign-off permission can grant delegate permissions to users who do not have this permission. As delegates, the non-provider users can approve and send physician authorization documents using the Annotation complete. Submit by Fax & Next button. For more information, see To delegate sign-off permissions for physician authorization documents.

Using annotate with tools

Click the annotate with tools link. The bar at the top displays a menu with annotation tool options.

edit/delete:

edit annotations — Allows you to scroll, click, and maneuver any of your existing annotations without accidentally adding or deleting anything.
delete annotations — Allows you to delete existing annotations.

add stamp:

signature — This option appears for users who have the Clinicals: Order/Prescription Sign-off permission enabled in their user profile and who have a signature configured in athenaOne. To add a signature, select this option from the menu, then click in the location that you want to sign. Signatures can be resized by dragging the right border to expand or contract.
Note: Users who have the Clinicals: Order/Prescription Sign-off permission can grant delegate permissions to users who do not have this permission (see Manage My Order Delegation).
signature timestamp — This option appears for users who have the Clinicals: Order/Prescription Sign-off permission enabled in their user profile and who have a provider signature configured in athenaOne. To add a signature timestamp, select this option from the menu, then click in the location that you want to sign. Signatures can be resized by dragging the right border to expand or contract.
Note: Users who have the Clinicals: Order/Prescription Sign-off permission can grant delegate permissions to users who do not have this permission (see Manage My Order Delegation).
signature with timestamp — This option appears for users who have the Clinicals: Order/Prescription Sign-off permission enabled in their user profile and who have a provider signature configured in athenaOne. To add a signature and timestamp at the same time, select this option from the menu, then click in the location that you want to sign. Signatures can be resized by dragging the right border to expand or contract. (Users who have the Clinicals: Order/Prescription Sign-off permission can grant delegate permissions to users who do not have this permission (see Manage My Order Delegation).)
Note: To meet Medicare DME documentation requirements, users need to add their signature and the signature timestamp.
box — This option allows you to place a box around an area on the image. You can drag the box to reposition it and drag the edges to resize the box.
checkmark — Select this option to add a checkmark to the page. This option is not reset to edit mode after you add a checkmark to a page, to facilitate annotating repetitive forms (yes/no boxes, etc.). To remove a checkmark, hover your cursor over the checkmark until the symbol appears, then click the left mouse button.
X-mark — Select this option to add an to the page. This option is not reset to edit mode, to facilitate repetitive annotation for documents such as forms. To remove an mark, hover your cursor over the until the symbol appears, then click the left mouse button.

add text:

[current date] — Select this menu option to add a date stamp with today's date to a document. The date stamp is editable once placed, and you can change the date if you choose.
small text — Select this menu option to add a box in which you can type text via a keyboard. The box defaults to 40 characters; text wraps as soon as the character limit is reached. To resize the text box, hover your cursor over the right border and expand or contract the box. The text contained within the box rewraps automatically according to the new boundaries.
LARGE TEXT — Select this menu option to add a text box with larger font. As with the small text box, any typing in the large text box wraps automatically when the character limit is reached; the box can be resized by dragging the right border.

Step-by-step instructions

To annotate, sign, and submit a physician authorization document on behalf of a provider

For more information about how providers can delegate the signing and submitting of physician authorization documents by non-provider users, see this video: Allow Practice Staff to Sign and Submit Physician Authorization Documents on Their Behalf.

For physician authorization documents, users who have the Clinicals: Order/Prescription Sign-off permission can grant delegate permissions to users who do not have this permission. As delegates, non-provider users can annotate and fax back physician authorization documents using the Annotation complete. Submit by Fax & Next button.

Note: For more information about how providers can grant permissions to delegates, see To delegate sign-off permissions for physician authorization documents.

Display the Clinical Inbox.
Select the physician authorization document that needs to be annotated and signed on behalf of the provider.
The document appears; the Provider field automatically displays the name of the provider.
Note: You can find physician authorization documents in the Orders / Rxs / Auths queue.
Click annotate with tools.
Click the menu and select one of the signature options.
Note: The signature options are enabled only if the practice staff user is configured as a delegate for the provider on the document.
Click the Add button.
To fax the document back to the sender, enter the fax number in the field to the right of the Annotation complete. Submit by Fax & Next button and then click the button.
Note: A record of the authorization appears in the History section of the document after the document is submitted via ATHENAFAX.

Important: The signing provider must authorize any physician authorization document that was annotated, signed, and submitted on the provider's behalf by a practice staff user within three business days. If this authorization does not take place within three business days, the designated practice staff user loses access to sign and submit documents on the provider's behalf. For more information, see To authorize a physician authorization document that a practice user annotated, signed, and submitted on your behalf.