Monthly summaries

A monthly summary is a clinical document that reports one learner's month: what the data shows for each program and behavior, the hours delivered against the authorization, case supervision and caregiver training, with the analyst's narrative and recommendations. It is written on NeatPractice's ABA monthly summary template (added to your clinic the first time anyone writes one), signed by its author and, when you choose them, co-signed by other analysts.

Starting a summary#

On the learner's chart, open Documentation and the Monthly summaries tab, then click New Summary. Choose the Month (the month just ended is preselected) and the Co-signers, which start with your clinic's default signers from ABA settings, less you. The summary starts as a draft on the learner's ABA episode and opens in the document editor. A learner has one summary per month; discard the draft to start that month over.

Drafts on the 1st#

On the 1st of each month NeatPractice starts last month's summary for every learner with an ABA data session in that month, so it is waiting when the analyst sits down to write. The 1st is reckoned in the time zone of the learner's default location (the practice's when they have none). Each draft is written for the learner's case lead, with the month's data gathered and your clinic's default signers as co-signers. NeatPractice starts a month once per learner: a learner who already has a summary for the month, even a discarded draft, is skipped.

When a learner has no active case lead, or the case lead may not write for them, no draft starts and the clinic's owners and admins get a notification with how many learners were skipped. Set the case lead, then use Generate Drafts.

The month's data#

NeatPractice gathers the month's data when the summary starts. Open Month Data on a summary to see what it gathered, the same tables the PDF prints:

• Summary month: the data sessions run this month and the month before.
• Skill programs: for each program, the sessions with data, its baseline and date, the average of each week of the month (weeks start on the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th), this month's mean and last month's, the status against baseline, the trend, targets mastered and introduced this month, phase changes, the current short-term goal and the program's comment.
• Target behaviors: the same for behavior reduction programs.
• Operational definitions: each target behavior's definition with its onset, offset, examples and non-examples.
• Caregiver goals: caregiver programs, with the caregiver, baseline, weekly averages, this month's mean, status, trend, current short-term goal and comment. Their graphs follow with the others.
• Objectives: each program's long-term goal with the date the plan began, and its current short-term goal with the date it began (the day the one before it was met, or the plan's start).
• Events and environmental changes: the event lines added to the learner's graphs in the month (medication, illness, staff or environmental changes) and the environmental changes written in the month's session notes, by date.
• Protocol modification sessions: the days with protocol modification services in the month, with codes, hours and the changes the day's notes made to the protocol.
• Medication changes: the chart's medications started, stopped or changed in the month, with dose and frequency.
• Hours delivered and authorized: each line of the learner's approved authorizations for the month, in hours: authorized for the days of the month it covers, delivered and still scheduled.
• Case supervision: direct treatment and supervision hours against each case supervision minimum.
• Caregiver training: the caregiver guidance sessions and hours in the month.
• Graphs: one per program with data in the month, with weekly points from the baseline (or the eight weeks before the month, when the baseline is more recent or missing; at most a year back) through the end of the month. The baseline observations are labeled Baseline and a dashed line marks where the summary month begins. The graph keeps the program's saved chart, title, y axis, marks and trend line. Enlarge beside a graph shows it over the whole screen; Export saves it alone as a PDF or PNG image.

The trend reads the month's daily values against the program's goal: Improving, Worsening, Steady (a change within 5 percent of the mean), or Not enough data with fewer than three days of data. A behavior reduction program improves as its line falls, every other program as it rises; a program whose mastery rule aims at At most or Less than a value also improves as its line falls.

The status compares the last week of the month with data against the baseline, in the goal's direction: Improved from baseline, Worse than baseline, Near baseline (within 5 percent of it), or No baseline when the program has none.

On a draft, click Edit Comments in Month Data to write a comment or procedure change note under each program. A comment prints in the program's row and under its graph, and signing freezes it with the summary; Refresh Data keeps the comments.

To show your own graph instead of a generated one, click Use Image beside the graph on a draft and upload a PNG or JPEG of up to 2 MB. The image takes the graph's place in Month Data and in the PDF, and signing keeps it with the signed copy. Replace Image uploads another; Use Generated Graph puts the drawn graph back. Refresh Data keeps uploaded images.

Data entered or corrected after the summary started does not show by itself. On a draft, click Refresh Data in Month Data to gather the month again.

Writing and signing#

Write the narrative in the document: the month overview and barriers, medication changes and other changes, skill and behavior progress, caregiver training, program changes and recommendations for next month. A new summary's Medication changes starts with the chart's medication changes for the month, one per line, ready to edit. Sign it like any other note. Signing freezes the month's data into the document and its PDF, so later changes to the chart never alter a signed summary. Click Print in Month Data for the PDF of a draft or a signed summary.

Each co-signer finds the signed summary in their pending signatures and signs it from there. Change the co-signers from Co-signers while the summary is a draft. To correct a signed summary, add an addendum.

Drafting with AI#

Each long text section of a draft summary has an AI button in its toolbar. Click it and choose Draft: the assistant writes that section from the month's data the summary shows (programs, behaviors, hours, supervision and caregiver training) and the other sections you already wrote. Names are never sent. The draft lands in the section, replacing it when empty or at your cursor otherwise; the editor's Undo takes it back out.

A drafted section stays a labeled draft until you edit it and click I Reviewed the Draft in the same AI popover. Signing waits until every drafted section is confirmed. Drafting uses assistant credits like the session narrative.

A month for the whole caseload#

Open Documentation, then Monthly summaries, to see every learner in care during the month at the location you are working in, with where each summary stands: Not started, Draft, Awaiting co-sign or Signed. Use the arrows to change the month and the menu to switch between My caseload and All learners. Pick case leads on the Providers tab to see only their learners; Generate Drafts then drafts for those learners only.

Click Generate Drafts to start a draft for each learner without one. Each draft is written for the learner's case lead when you may write for them, otherwise for you, with the month's data gathered at once and the default signers as co-signers.

The Monthly reports in progress dashboard widget also lists summaries in draft or waiting for a co-signer.