MedLook Weekly Tip For 02/14/2006

The header on patient statements is frequently printed on personalized stationery in bulk quantity.  The pre-printed stationery may or may not have a business logo and other graphics or stylized text.  The Edit Header command button in Patient Billing (at the end of the Items To Include list) allows you to customize the header on your patient bills for printing to plain, blank paper and yet obtain a personalized look.  Using this command your system editor designated to edit .rtf files is opened with the current header.  The current header is customized per computer system with the header being located in (c:\Program Files\Rem Systems\) MedLook\UsersFiles\BillHeader.rtf.  It looks like this:

[DocGroup]

[DocTitle ][DocFirstName] [DocMI. ][DocLastName, ] [DocCredentials]

[DocAddress1]

[DocAddress2]

[DocCity, ][DocState]  [DocZip]

[DocPhone]

As noted in other Tips this file is parsed for the keywords and they are replaced with the contents found in your database.  Using our sample database our header would look like this on an actual bill:

Our Little Clinic

Dr. Do A. Little,

123 EZ Lane

Small Town, AL  35785

(555)123-9875

However, we can completely ignore the contents of the database and directly enter our header if we wish.  You could change the BillHeader.rtf file to contain the text as:

Our Little Clinic

Dr. Do A. Little

123 EZ Lane

Small Town, AL  35785

(555)123-9875

If you're clever you can even add a logo of your own design.  In any case, MedLook allows you a moderate amount of flexibility to customize your statement headers.  If you work on multiple machines you will need to copy this file to each system as noted above.

Normally you would use this to simply provide your remittance address to the patients.  However, you could use this area to alert patients to changes in your phone or address if necessary.

Email Us  Any questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome.