Brief Description: This configuration key allows a county to set a restriction on group notes that limits the procedure codes available in a group note to only those available to the group’s default program.
Details: When creating a group, SmartCare asks you for a default program and a default procedure code. When a service for this group is created, all services for all clients will use these defaults. Sometimes, a client’s program is changed from the default to another program. This doesn’t impact the procedure code default. However, the default procedure code may not be a procedure code associated with the new program. (Please also note that SmartCare allows you to select a default procedure code regardless of whether the default program is associated with the default procedure code.) If a county is ok with this, then this configuration key can be set to “No”. However, this means that a county may get billing errors when trying to claim for this service, as the procedure codes isn’t available in that program.
Setting this configuration key to “Yes” will cause the system to validate the procedure code associated with the service is associated with the program the service is associated with. If the service’s selected procedure code is not associated with the service’s selected program, a validation error will popup, alerting the user to this. The user will NOT be able to sign the service for this client until the service’s procedure code is one that is associated with the service’s program. This can be done by changing the service’s program to one that has the selected procedure code associated with it OR by changing the procedure code to one that’s associated with the service’s program.
Default Value: Yes
This means that the system will not allow a user to sign a group service note for a client when the procedure code is not associated with the service’s program.
Allowed Values: “Yes”, “No”
Selecting “No” will turn off this validation, allowing clients to have a group service for a program they’re not enrolled in.
Example: Chester is running a group for 5 clients. The default program for the group is the South County Clinic program and the default procedure code is Group Counseling. One of these clients, Hiram, isn’t currently enrolled in the South County Clinic program. When Chester goes to write his group notes, the South County Clinic is automatically chosen as the service’s program for each client. He changes the program for Hiram to be North County Clinic.
Value = “Yes”: Chester tries to sign his notes and gets a validation popup indicating that Group Counseling isn’t associated with the program North County Clinic. Chester changes the procedure code for Hiram’s service to be group therapy, which is associated with the North County Clinic program. Chester is now able to sign his notes and complete his services.
Value = “No”: Chester signs his notes. He does not get a validation, because his county is ok with procedure codes not being associated with the program the service is assigned to. They will deal with any billing errors via a different process.
- Last Updated: April 18, 2025