File Layout and Reference Manual

Emdat

File Layout and Reference Manual

For Patient and Associate Files

Last updated: June6th, 2011

Table of Contents

Introduction

File Formats

Sending Files

Emdat Patient File Layout

Format 1: Fixed Width

Format 2: Fixed Width, 3-Digit State

Format 3: Comma Delimited

Format 4: Custom Format

Census Feature

Patient File Layout

Emdat Associates File Layout

Format 1: Fixed Width

Format 2: Fixed Width, 3-digit State

Format 3: Comma Delimited

Custom Format

Associate File Layout

Introduction

Emdat can accept patient and associate records as a file, in four different formats. Emdat has a standard format for fixed width and comma delimited documents, and can also accept files in a custom format as defined with the client. The standard field layout for Patient and Associate files is described later in this document. For both, the formats are:

File Formats

Format 1: Fixed Width – A document is created matching the file layout as described. The first character of each record determines the action that will be taken on the record (Insert or Delete). The rest of the data is laid out in a fixed format, with each data element starting at the same position in each record, and taking up no more than the allotted space provided for that data element.

Format 2: Fixed Width, 3 digit state – This format is the same as Format 1, however the state field is given an extra character (to accommodate for non-American addresses). This results in the fields following the state being moved one character to the right.

Format 3: Comma Delimited – A document is created matching the layout as described, however this format does not use the first character of the layout, and so it is eliminated from the file. The data is formatted in the file with a comma separating each data element. Data elements containing commas can be quote identified.

Format 4: Custom – A document cannot be created that matches the layout. The client either uses the InCommand screens to configure the layout, or works with Emdat to create custom logic that will be used to parse the incoming file.

Sending Files

To send a file to Emdat, the ShadowLink application must first be installed and configured. When configuring ShadowLink for a Patient or Associate file, please be aware of the following:

You must define in which of the formats you will be sending the file. The formats are defined in this document. ShadowLink sends the file to the server, along with the setting of what the file format is, and our server processes the files accordingly.
If the filename of the file will always be the same, you can configure ShadowLink to monitor for this file specifically. If the file will change, you can configure ShadowLink to monitor a folder. Please note when using this option that all files in this folder will be sent, so take care when choosing the folder to monitor.
When sending a file or all files from a folder, the default action ShadowLink takes after sending the file is to delete the original from your system. You have the option of renaming or moving the file to a new location after it is sent if you wish.
If the “Client Name” field is used, and is different than the client under which ShadowLink is configured, the record will be processed into the specified client. The clients must also be setup with a “Cross Client Referral” relationship in InCommand for this functionality to work.

Obtaining the File that will be sent to Emdat

Emdat is not responsible for the steps that are necessary to create the file that will be sent. Some companies have reports that can be run and saved as files. Some companies have processes that can be used to create such files. Some companies allow a third-party reporting tool to access the system and extract information to create such files. Emdat does not have the capabilities or knowledge of these systems to be able to pull the data. Emdat can only process the file once it is created from the source system.

Emdat Patient File Layout

Format 1: Fixed Width

Format 2: Fixed Width, 3-Digit State

Emdat supports two fixed-width file layouts. The only difference between the two is the State fields.

The first character of the file can be an “I” or a “D”, for Insert or Delete.

For the Insert command, all available fields should be filled in. When a record does not exist in the Emdat database, an Insert will add the record to the database. When a record exists in the database, and Insert will Update the record, based on the Patient ID field.

On a Delete, the appointment record is removed from the Emdat Database, and if no other appointments exist for the patient, the patient record is also removed from the database.

The Location can be mapped to a location in the Emdat database, based on the “Client Location ID” field. If the location code of the appointment is sent with the appointment record and it matches the Client Location ID field attached to a location in the Emdat system, the appointment will map to that location. It is important to note that the Location field is a character based field. Therefore, any character other than a leading or trailing space is considered part of the code, making “1” and “01” different codes.

The Appointment Date field is used to update the patient record with an appointment date. Multiple appointment dates per patient will be remembered; however any appointments over one month old will be removed from the system as new appointments for a patient come in.

The Primary Care Provider field and the Additional Assoc Code fields, if supplied, map to your Associate Client Code. These providers will be associates that will always receive a copy of the report for this patient. As such, the associate must already exist in the system for this to work.

The Dictation ID field, if supplied, maps to your Dictation ID for a User. This field is used for reporting purposes to compare the Appointment file to Transcribed reports.

Format 3: Comma Delimited

This file format includes all of the fields described in the fixed-width format in the same order that they appear in that specification, with the exception that the first field (Transaction Type) is not included. Each record in a comma-delimited file is considered to be an insert (or update).

Each field may be enclosed by quotes – the import program will distinguish between each field individually, whether enclosed by quotes or not. Quotes are recommended for text fields, as commas that are included in such fields may be read as a field separator when quotes are not used. For example, “123 Somewhere Drive, Apt 3.” would be considered one field if wrapped in quotes, but two fields if the quotes are omitted.

The processing of the file by the server is identical to the fixed-width description, with the exception that it reads each record by the comma (and quote) delimiters, and the Transaction Type field should be excluded. Each line in the file would therefore follow this format:

PatientID, PatientFirstName, PatientMiddleInitial, PatientLastName, Gender, Birthdate, Location, AppointmentDate, AppointmentDescription, Address1, Address2, City, State, Zip, HomePhone, WorkPhone, OrderNumber, UserField1, UserField2, UserField3, UserField4, UserField5, PrimaryCareProvider, Dictation_ID

Format 4: Custom Format

If the file produced does not match our file layout, it is considered a custom file. A custom file can be defined in two different ways.

If it is a fixed width or comma delimited file (but not in our standard layout), the layout may be able to be defined in Client Maintenance. Please refer to the InCommand Interfacing document for instructions on how to do this.

If the file is more complicated than what can be parsed using the Client Maintenance screens, the developers will need to be involved in creating custom code to parse the file. Please use the custom development process when pursuing a file of this type.

Census Feature

Each of the file formats in question can also be used with a “Census” feature. By enabling this feature, patients will process normally. However, after processing, any patient in the Emdat database that has an Admit date, but which was NOT included in the uploaded file, will have their Discharge date filled in with the date prior to the day of the upload.

Patient File Layout

Fixed
Pos / Comma
Pos / Field Name / Start
Format 1 / Start
Format 2 / Len / Value
1 / Transaction Type / 1 / 1 / 1 / I or D
1 / 2 / Patient ID / 2 / 2 / 20 / Character
2 / 3 / Patient First Name / 22 / 22 / 20 / Character
3 / 4 / Patient Middle Initial / 42 / 42 / 1 / Character
4 / 5 / Patient Last Name / 43 / 43 / 20 / Character
5 / 6 / Gender / 63 / 63 / 1 / M or F
6 / 7 / Birthdate / 64 / 64 / 10 / MM/DD/YYYY
7 / 8 / Location / 74 / 74 / 10 / Integer if Emdat Location
Character if Mapping
8 / 9 / Appointment Date / 84 / 84 / 10 / MM/DD/YYYY
9 / 10 / Appointment Description / 94 / 94 / 30 / Character
10 / 11 / Address 1 / 124 / 124 / 50 / Character
11 / 12 / Address 2 / 174 / 174 / 50 / Character
12 / 13 / City / 224 / 224 / 20 / Character
13 / 14 / State / 244 / 244 / 2 / Character
14 / 15 / Zip Code / 246 / 247 / 9 / Character
15 / 16 / Home Phone / 255 / 256 / 10 / Character
16 / 17 / Work Phone / 265 / 266 / 10 / Character
17 / 18 / Order Number / 275 / 276 / 50 / Character
18 / 19 / User Field 1 / 325 / 326 / 50 / Character
19 / 20 / User Field 2 / 375 / 376 / 50 / Character
20 / 21 / User Field 3 / 425 / 426 / 50 / Character
21 / 22 / User Field 4 / 475 / 476 / 50 / Character
22 / 23 / User Field 5 / 525 / 526 / 50 / Character
23 / 24 / Primary Care Provider / 575 / 576 / 20 / Character
24 / 25 / Dictation ID / 595 / 596 / 20 / Character
25 / 26 / Admit Date / 605 / 606 / 10 / MM/DD/YYYY
26 / 27 / Discharge Date / 615 / 616 / 10 / MM/DD/YYYY
27 / 28 / Additional Assoc Code 1 / 625 / 626 / 20 / Character
28 / 29 / Additional Assoc Code 2 / 645 / 646 / 20 / Character
29 / 30 / Additional Assoc Code 3 / 665 / 666 / 20 / Character
30 / 31 / Additional Assoc Code 4 / 685 / 686 / 20 / Character
31 / 32 / Additional Assoc Code 5 / 705 / 706 / 20 / Character
32 / 33 / Primary Care Type / 725 / 726 / 20 / Character
33 / 34 / Additional Assoc Type 1 / 745 / 746 / 20 / Character
34 / 35 / Additional Assoc Type 2 / 765 / 766 / 20 / Character
35 / 36 / Additional Assoc Type 3 / 785 / 786 / 20 / Character
36 / 37 / Additional Assoc Type 4 / 805 / 806 / 20 / Character
37 / 38 / Additional Assoc Type 5 / 825 / 826 / 20 / Character
38 / 39 / Client Name / 845 / 846 / 26 / Character

Emdat Associates File Layout

Format 1: Fixed Width

Format 2: Fixed Width, 3-digit State

Emdat supports two fixed-width file layouts. The only difference between the two is the State fields.

The first character of the file can be an “I” or a “D”, for Insert or Delete.

On a Delete, the Associate record is removed from the Emdat Database, based on the Associate Client Code field.

Format 3: Comma Delimited

AssociateID, AssociateFirstName, AssociateMiddleInitial, AssociateLastName, BusinessName, Specialty, Greeting, Address1, Address2, Address3, City, State, ZipCode, Phone, Prefix, Suffix, Fax, Email, Auto-Fax

Custom Format

If the file produced does not match our file layout, it is considered a custom file. A custom file can be defined in two different ways.

Referral User ID Feature

To set the associate’s referral user from the associate file, the Emdat internal User ID of the user must be placed in the appropriate field. While editing a user in Client Maintenance, the internal User ID for the user is in the “User Information” section labeled as “User Telephone "InTouch" Dictation ID”. This feature is available in Custom Format associate files.

Associate File Layout

Comma
Pos / Fixed
Pos / Name / Start
Format 1 / Start Format 2 / Length / Value
1 / Transaction Type / 1 / 1 / 1 / I or D
1 / 2 / Associate ID / 2 / 2 / 20 / Character
2 / 3 / Associate First Name / 22 / 22 / 20 / Character
3 / 4 / Associate Middle Initial / 42 / 42 / 1 / Character
4 / 5 / Associate Last Name / 43 / 43 / 20 / Character
5 / 6 / Business Name / 63 / 63 / 50 / Character
6 / 7 / Specialty / 113 / 113 / 30 / Character
7 / 8 / Greeting / 143 / 143 / 50 / Character
8 / 9 / Address Line 1 / 193 / 193 / 50 / Character
9 / 10 / Address Line 2 / 243 / 243 / 50 / Character
10 / 11 / Address Line 3 / 293 / 293 / 50 / Character
11 / 12 / City / 343 / 343 / 20 / Character
12 / 13 / State / 363 / 363 / 2 / Character
13 / 14 / Zip Code / 365 / 366 / 9 / Character
14 / 15 / Phone / 374 / 375 / 10 / Character
15 / 16 / Associate Prefix / 384 / 385 / 10 / Character
16 / 17 / Associate Suffix / 394 / 395 / 10 / Character
17 / 18 / Fax / 404 / 405 / 10 / Character
18 / 19 / E-Mail / 414 / 415 / 50 / Character
19 / 20 / Auto-Fax / 464 / 465 / 1 / Character
(True = 1, T or Y)
(False = 0, F, N or
anything else)
20 / 21 / Client Name / 465 / 466 / 26