eClinical scanning and fax support are critical pieces in the eCW EMR architecture. This component allows for out of network hospitals, medical groups, practices, pharmacies, labs, and other health care related organizations to easily send patient charts, prescriptions, etc. not only to and from these locations but quickly attached to the patient chart or simply have a time stamp of what went where and when. Below are the nuts and bolts of eClinical Scanning and Fax Support and the basic workflow explained.
Note: We are not eClinicalworks technical support. Please inquire about technical support if you like us to maintain your network infrastructure, help desk, and are interested in a monthly maintenance support contract with our team. We can proceed with resolving any eClinical scanning and fax support related issues once a relationship with our team has been established.
Additional Resources:
Looking for MODI and body images support Options?
New and Improved Network Scanner Documentation
Warning: eClinicalworks support team does not support Network Scanners
How to scan/fax through eClinicalworks client interface
We created steps further down this post if your team decides to scan directly to a workstation using an MFP, network document scanner, or preferably a eCW compatible Fujitsu scanner. Otherwise, the steps illustrated below not only demonstrate how to scan or fax to eClinicalworks but it attempts to explain where the user or IT guy must go within the eClinicalworks interface to work with incoming and outgoing faxes.
View and Send Faxes in eCW
How do I get into or setup Patient Documents and view faxes or scanned images?
First login into eClinicalworks using a case sensitive user name and password. Immediately, click on “Documents” on the left pane and as illustrated below:
- Click “Patient Documents” (click on illustration below for example)
- Select “Settings” once you selected the appropriate “Document Category” on the lower bar. IE “fax inbox” for faxes or “scan docs”
- Confirm you have the correct “Scan Folder” and “Fax Inbox” path (The generic fax path is usually \faxinbox as illustrated below)
The path to the server hosting the faxes and the scans folder must be setup for you view patient documents from the fax server. The fax server name varies based on your own network setup.
Eclinicalworks Scanner and Patient Document Interface
View a couple key components to scanning “scan” documents and “document category” in the above illustration once you have the correct server paths.
- Scan
- This will initiate a scan of document in the Fujisu scanner if a paper is in the feeder
- Document Catergory
- Scan Docs
- View scanned documents from the Fujitsu scanner
- Fax Inbox
- View incoming faxes
- Scan Docs
Patient Lookup
You can add scan document to a patient chart or a test patient chart by selecting patient lookup at the top of the eclinicalworks application. Then search for “Test, Test” to play around with adding test or sample scanned images or faxes to the test patient record.
Eclinical Scanning Hardware
Like discussed before, the data location and therefore IT setup will change depending on what scanning hardware you purchase. Here are some hardware options.
ProTip! Always get 32 bit scanner drivers. 64 bit drivers still do not jive well in most computer environments.
- Fujitsu Fi-7160
- This is relatively new device and is on eClinicalworks compatibility list of supported hardware.
- Go to www.fcpa.com, “support and downloads”, and select the “legacy option” for grabbing PaperStream IP drivers.
- Paper IP Drivers
- Fujitsu has two scanner drivers, Paperstream IP and ISIS. ISIS is evil and should not used here. Always use PaperStream IP drivers.
- Fujitsu Fi-6140dj or newer Series
- This device works well for someone that is dedicated for document scanning
- Clean the glass yearly by using index finger on the right side and pulling open the scanner. Use rubbing alcohol and microfiber cleaning cloth.
- Increase the DPI to 240 for improved scan quality
- For reference, we recently setup an older Fi-6110. Make sure you add the TWAIN drivers and not just the default windows… psiptwain64 –PaperStream IP (Twain x 64) ***Reboot computer when adding/modify drivers
- Fujisu ScanSnap
- This is deal for a department or a front desk area. The whole staff is scanning items to their workstations. Warning… Be careful with PHI with this setup.
- HP LaserJet 500 M575F Laser Multifunction Printer
- This is your high end MFP for faxing, printing, and scanning. I’m not exactly promoting it. It’s simply used at one of our eCW practices. They are some additional MFP options I’ve written about here.
What about my Fujitsu CD? Aren’t driver on there?
Yes, look for PaperStream IP 32 bit drivers. They may be older than the website though.
Eclinical Scanning – Dedicated Staff Scanner
Note: Some practices utilize this setup instead of MFP… New and Improved Network Scanner Documentation Read below for additional hardware scanning options…
Options 1 – The Printer/Scanner AKA MFP
Reminder: The Fujitsu Scanner setup is under “Option 2 -The Fujitsu Scanner” further down the page.
In this scenario, we used an HP Laserjet 500 Color MFP to setup and scan documents into a communal fax share location on the file server. Scans are sent to this file share and each computer can view the share from eClinicalworks “scan docs”.
We then view the unsorted scans or tiffs and PDF in eCW. However, there is no seamless way to send out random third party faxes. We created some steps below for a pretty seamless work-around
Create Multiple Fake Patient Accounts
Unfortunately, the workaround requires some dummy patient accounts as displayed below. We created a couple here:
- CHMB (First Name), Fax (Last Name)
- Paychex (First Name), Fax (Last Name)
Paychex faux patient account
We then went under the “admin” tab and clicked on “referring patients” for adding the same information as above but this section will include the fax number for CHMB and Paychex.
Click Add. Last Name Fax, First Name CHMB
Click Add. Last Name Fax, First Name Paychex
Send 3rd Party Fax Through Ecw Fax Server
We can begin sending faxes now that we the configuration is complete for sending faxes for CHMB and Paychex by performing a “patient lookup”, search for “fax” and choosing one the third parties we set up for fax.
Once the third party is selected, go to patient documents to retrieve the scanned file from the HP printer scanner (MFP)
Options 2 – The Fujitsu Scanner
Follow these directions if you use a Fujitsu Scanner in your eClinicalworks environment. This takes 30 minutes to setup if the hardware is already plugged in and the drivers are in place. You will be required to setup the correct source under the Patient Documents section of eClinicalworks. Make sure the scanner shows in the Device Manager before proceeding. Then download the Fujitsu driver by querying in Google the make and model plus driver “Fujitsu Fi-5110C driver” and search for TWAIN Driver V9.21.1600 once on the page. The driver should show up in Eclinicalworks as illustrated below if these directions are performed correctly.
Alternative, you can go to www.fcpa.com, “support and downloads”, and select the “legacy option” for grabbing PaperStream IP drivers.
ProTip! Always get 32 bit scanner drivers. 64 bit drivers still do not jive well in most computer environments.
The other options when available is
[Download] PaperStream IP (TWAIN) 1.50.0.6382
PSIPTWAIN-1_50_0c.exe (144,292,248 Bytes)
Grab 32bit not 64 and don’t worry about the admin tool. Uncheck that option when installing for eClinicalworks.
Adjust the document scanner settings for the lowest resolution but still readable. This will improve scan completion times and also reduce the load of excessive storage of large files. Make sure TIF and the correct folder path for the inbox to view your files from are adjusted here.
The MODI interface should come up once the executed scan from the eCW “scan” button is complete. MODI acts differently than Windows Photo Viewer. That is now eCW preferred default viewer but not necessarily ours.
Community Network Scanner Shared Folder Setup
This setup is when you have something like a Fujisu ScanSnap Series scanner. It sends a scan to the share of the user’s workstation.
Fi Network Scanner Admin Tool located on XP machine (front desk)
Option 3 – Scan Snap Setup Directions
This is kind of like the MFP setup but it’s a dedicated scanner. We actually improved the Network Scanner documentation but be forewarned, eClinicalworks support team does not support Fujitsu Network Scanners.
ProTip! I highly recommend skipping the section below if you have a Fujitsu Network Scanner and click on our new and improve Network Scanner documentation.
default adminpassword
Step 1
To add network folder for new machine:
“scanner settings” (top column)
“network Settings”(second column)
“network folder” (left pane)
**Delete button for new network path***
Add new button, do not try to edit except if it’s a button name change
Step 2
Then go to Job Menu Settings
“Job Sequences”
edit
select button
“job items”
expand save
Step 3
Then go to “Job Menu” tab
Edit the name for the screen of the scanner
Step 4 (eCW)
eCW Setup
Go to Documents in eCW, Patient Documents, and view the big window for “Document Category”
*Scan Docs -> Settings
C:ltfrontscans
\faxserverInBox
*Delete the documents after attaching to Patient or Staff
Workstation Fax Server Setup
Most small practices have a Mainpine modems but online fax solutions are quickly becoming a nice alternative. In this scenario, we have a local fax server called…. “faxserver” and inbox share in called “inbox” shocker, yes I know. We like to keep things simple here. For your techies, that’s \faxserverinbox for simple and hopefully secure access to the inbox folder of all faxes received by the fax server. Make sure the “document category” has “Fax Inbox” selected when attempting make subtle fax setup changes. Check mark “view the document inplace” when in the “document view” section.
Document Category – Fax Inbox – Fax Outbox – Fax Server *** This section needs improvement***
The illustration has an option to change the “document category” from “fax inbox” to “scan docs”. Basically, all faxes will go in one and all scans will go into the other. Below illustrates the shortcut to access the documents that should all be in the tiff format.
Select “Fax Inbox” (referenced above) and click on the scan file or fax depending on what Document Category you selected. From here, you will be able assign to staff. Delete document when prompted if assigned.
Staff – Assigned to Document
Your staff will select first jelly bean (top right) on eCW interface to view their assigned documents queue.
Click the document
Add your favorites under …
There may not be a category that fits your needs like billing. Use a placeholder name like “facilities” or “insurance” until this feature is improved.
eClinical Scanning and Fax Support Summary
Many of these features will help provide more clarity for anyone butting heads with the IT guy or simply be a resource for you to refer back to when struggling with a new computer setup. Regardless, contact us if you need a point team for handling these sometimes cumbersome issues.
