Documentation
Physician certification
Send a signed plan of care to the certifying physician by secure e-sign link, record faxed or mailed returns, and follow the certification clock.
Medicare and many other payers need the patient's physician to certify each plan of care and recertification. NeatPractice tracks that certification on the plan itself, keeps a log of every send and return as proof that you followed up, and warns as the days pass. A missing certification never stops treatment or billing.
Certification status#
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Not sent | The plan has not gone to the physician yet. |
| Sent | The plan was sent by e-sign link, fax or mail and is waiting on the physician. |
| Verbal order | The physician gave a verbal order; the written signature is due within 14 days. |
| Certified | The physician signed the plan. |
| Delayed | The certification is late, with the reason recorded. |
| Declined | The physician declined the plan or asked for changes. |
| Expired unsigned | The plan's period ended without a signature. |
The certifying physician comes from the episode of care. Set it on the episode before sending.
The certification clock#
From the day a plan starts, NeatPractice counts the days it goes unsigned and warns on day 14, day 21 and day 28. A verbal order pauses those warnings until 14 days pass without the written signature; the plan shows the order date, the date the signature is due and how many days are left. The warnings show on the plan, on the Plans of care tab, in the Plans awaiting certification queue and, from day 14, in the provider's due items on the schedule.
Send for e-signature#
Once the therapist has signed the plan:
- Open the plan from the Plans of care tab.
- Under Physician certification, click Send for E-signature.
- Check the Email of the physician's office. It starts with the physician's email in Setup under Physicians.
- Click Send Link.
The physician's office receives an email from your practice with a secure link. The email names your practice only, never the patient. The physician opens the link, enters the NPI the clinic has on file for them, reviews the plan (patient, period, frequency, diagnoses, goals and the written plan) and then signs it by typing their name, which shows in a signature style, and checking a certification statement, or declines it with what to change. NeatPractice keeps the time, the name as typed and the network address and browser the physician signed from.
- A link works for 30 days and only once. Sending a new link stops the old one.
- Reloading the page in the same browser tab keeps the link open; the physician enters the NPI again.
- Five wrong NPIs lock the link; send a new one.
- The physician needs an NPI in Setup under Physicians before you can send a link.
- Each time the physician opens the plan, it is logged.
- The physician sees the plan exactly as the therapist signed it: later changes to the patient's name, the episode's diagnoses or the provider do not change what the link shows.
Fax the plan#
With the Fax add-on, fax a signed plan from the chart's Documentation list with Fax in its row menu. The send is recorded here for you, and when the physician faxes it back with the cover page on top, the return is filed to the chart and logged as Returned by fax. A signed copy scanned and uploaded is logged as Returned by upload. Check the signature on the returned pages, then record it below. See Fax documents and the fax inbox and Returned documents.
Record an update by hand#
For a plan faxed, mailed or phoned in, click Record Update under Physician certification and choose what happened:
- Sent for signature: the plan went out by fax or mail. Add a note such as the fax number.
- Verbal order recorded: the date of the physician's verbal order.
- Signed: the date the physician signed, how it came back, and optionally who signed and their NPI.
- Delay recorded: why the certification is late.
- Declined: what the physician asked to change.
Sending and recording a signature need a plan the therapist has signed. Once a plan is certified, nothing more is recorded on it.
Certification log#
Every send, failed send, link opened, wrong NPI, signature, decline, verbal order and delay is listed under Physician certification, with when it happened, how and by whom. Entries are never changed or removed.
Plans awaiting certification#
The Plans awaiting certification queue lists every therapist-signed plan the physician has not certified, longest waiting first, for the patients you can see. Turn on Past day 14 to see only overdue ones, and click Filter to narrow the list by discipline or certification status, and click a column header to sort by any column. Pick patients in the patient panel to see only their plans. Open Certifications in the Docs panel of the main menu, or use the Plans awaiting certification dashboard widget; click a patient to open their plans of care.