Upgrade Central

WELCOME! 

This is your new all-in-one mission plan for everything you need to prepare and implement the upcoming product upgrades. This upgrade is required to fulfill various regulatory requirements including support for the 21st Century CURES Act.  

IMPORTANT DEADLINES 

Clients Participating in MIPS:
To ensure your practice is live on the required version prior to the MIPS-related deadlines, it is highly recommended that your practice must start your upgrade process by March 1, 2023, at the latest* and complete the upgrade no later than August 1, 2023.  

All Other Clients:
To ensure your practice is live on the required version prior to the 21st Century CURES Act-related deadlines, it is highly recommended that your practice must start your upgrade process by August 1, 2023, at the latest* and complete the upgrade no later than December 31, 2023.   

*Practices on their own servers, those with high levels of customization, or other unique characteristics may require an extended project timeline and should start their project earlier to ensure the ability to meet deadlines.   

Start Now. We look forward to guiding you through the journey!
Our Upgrade Central webpage will be updated regularly. Check back often for updates. 

Plan

TSI Healthcare Cloud ASP Hosted Clients

All TSI Healthcare Cloud ASP Hosted clients must upgrade to our new Cloud ASP servers and Citrix application. This Cloud ASP upgrade must be completed in order to proceed with the NextGen 6.2021 upgrade. 

  • Step 1: Install Citrix Workspace on each PC used to connect to hosting.tsihealthcare.com using these instructions
  • Step 2: Notify TSI Healthcare’s server team that you are ready to upgrade to the new Cloud ASP Servers via email to helpdesk@tsihealthcare.com
  • Step 3: Our IT team will coordinate with your practice on this process, which can take 1-3 weeks 

Non-TSI Healthcare Hosted Clients (Self or Third-Party Hosted)

The NextGen 6.2021.1 Upgrade has minimum Hardware Requirements which must be met in order for the software to function properly. If you are not hosted on TSI Healthcare’s Cloud ASP Servers, it is extremely important that you review and/or share these requirements with your IT Staff to verify that all hardware requirements are met prior to TSI Healthcare installing NextGen 6.2021.1 in your Test Environment.  

The NextGen 6.2021 upgrade is significantly different than previous upgrades. As such, we are requiring all practices to attend our Executive Sponsor “Mission Briefing” to help practices understand these changes, plan, and set expectations.  

This webinar is intended for Practice decision-makers (CEO, Practice Admins/Executives) to attend the Executive Sponsor Call 

Step 1: Attend Executive Sponsor Webinar: Link to sign up for next scheduled call (link coming soon!) 

As part of this upgrade, practices will be transitioned to our enhanced patient portal, enhanced patient statements, and have the opportunity to add additional services/products. Your account manager will schedule a time to review your existing licensing and confirm details associated with these items.   

After the Executive Sponsor Call, and once you are ready to proceed with your upgrade: 

  • Step 1: Open a case with helpdesk@tsihealthcare.com notifying our team that you are ready to schedule an “Upgrade License Review” call with your account manager.
  • Step 2: Schedule a call with your Account Manager to review licensing and paperwork
  • Step 3: Sign necessary pre-upgrade licensing paperwork 

Once you have completed the call with your account manager and have submitted the needed pre-upgrade licensing paperwork, your account manager will notify our Upgrade team that you’re ready to start your Mission! 

Step 1: Our team will send your Executive Sponsor a Test Overwrite Agreement & Core Team Selection Form 

-Test Overwrite Agreement: In preparation for future updates and necessary testing, TSI Healthcare needs to make a fresh copy of your TEST database. This means that anything currently in TEST will be overwritten and erased (this will NOT affect your Prod (Live) database at all). 

-Core Team Selection Form: The transition to NextGen version 6.2021.1 will impact all areas of your practice. Clients will be asked to select a key representative from each area of your practice to “lead” specific parts of the mission. These individuals will be responsible for attending upgrades calls, training, testing, etc of their respective modules in the system. You’ll be asked to select the following: (1) a key EPM administrative, billing, and portal team member, (2) a key EHR clinical team member, (3) a patient portal specialist, and (4) if your practice is self-hosted or hosted by a third party, a technical resource. 

Step 2: Complete and submit form

After our team receives your Overwrite Agreement & Core Team Selection form, our staff will start working in the background to get necessary Mission preparations in place, including: 

  • Copying your Production Environment into your Test Environment- which will ultimately allow your staff to test the upgrade using your current system data/configuration 
  • Installing Adaptive Content Engine (ACE, formerly KBM) and/or Specialty Content- ensuring you get the latest and greatest clinical templates in EHR 
  • Install necessary technical services for testing 
  • Install add-on modules needed for PXP Patient Portal testing 
  • Assign Mission Specialists- dedicated TSI Healthcare team members to guide your Core Team through the upgrade mission 
  • Review your current configurations to create a timeline estimate for your upgrade 

Depending on the complexity of your practice, this phase takes a minimum of two weeks. While you may not hear from our team during this period, rest assured that our Mission Specialists are busy working to get your environment ready! 

Once we complete preliminary setup of your Test Environment, a TSI Mission Specialist will email your identified Core Mission Team with details on next steps. The email will include the necessary documents for this phase of your mission. 

Step 1: Schedule Core Mission Team Briefing  

This call should be attended by ALL 3 (or 4) of your practice’s Core Team representatives. We’ll cover an overview of Core Team responsibilities, the upgrade process, upgrade central, set expectations, and most importantly: select your Go-Live date.  

Important: Your core team should come ready and be able to select a Go-Live date for your upgrade on this call. Unlike upgrades in the past, the complex nature of the upgrade requires that we schedule this date in advance. 

Step 2: Review Overview Document 

Completing the configuration form requires an understanding of the new features in NextGen version 6.2021. The Overview document is provided to assist. 

Step 3: Complete & Submit Configuration Form 

The Configuration Form allows TSI Healthcare to assist with your NextGen version 6.2021.1 setup. The setup will be completed by TSI Team in your Test environment so that you can become comfortable with the changes and complete required testing prior to your Production upgrade. This form should be completed prior to your Core Mission Team Briefing. 

Designated Client Core Team will be responsible for reviewing all materials provided, including videos and overview documents on the new features and functionality available in NextGen version 6.2021.1.  

Note that some clients may have additional materials based on specialty and services offered. Your TSI Healthcare Mission Specialist will provide guidance on which additional documents may be needed for your practice. 

General Overview Documents: 

PM- Practice Management 
PXP Portal (link coming soon!)
EHR- Electronic Health Records
EHR – Setup Form General

General Videos: 

Administrative Training – (4min 4sec)
EHR General Enhancement – (15min 2sec)
Assessment Carry Forward – (1min 37sec)
AUC – (10min 21sec)
BMI – (2min 45sec)
Finalize – (4min 7sec)
Orders Module – (5min 1sec)
Patient History Bar – (3min 1sec)
PIB Tool Bar – (4min 10sec)
Tobacco – (3min 7sec)
Medication Module – (15min 54sec)

Specialty Specific Documents: 

In addition to the 26+ specialties supported by NextGen, we’ve created additional documentation for some specialties that have significant workflow differences from others.  

Ophthalmology: 

OPH Overview Document

Cardiology: 

In addition to the standard Setup Form above, Cardiology clients must also complete the Cardiology Setup Form. 

Cardiology Setup Form
CARD Overview Document

Videos:
Cardiology Training Video – (21min 33sec) 

Rheumatology: 

In addition to the standard Setup Form above, Rheumatology clients must also complete the Rheumatology Setup Form. 

TSI Rheumatology Setup Form
TSI RHE Overview Document

Videos:
TSI RHE SubQ IM Injection Template Video – (3min 40sec) 

TSI RHE PTA Template Video – (3min 3sec)

TSI RHE Joint Injection Template Video – (9min 12 sec)

Pulmonary & Sleep Medicine: 

In addition to the standard Setup Form above, Pulmonary & Sleep Medicine clients must also complete the Pulmonary & Sleep Medicine Setup Form. 

TSI PUL Setup Form

TSI PUL Content Overview

Discover

  • Meet your TSI Upgrade Specialist Team. At the beginning of your journey, we will present the upgrade process step by step.  We’ll cover an overview of Core Team responsibilities, the upgrade process, upgrade central, set expectations, and most importantly: selecting your Go-Live date.  Preparing for Your Call: Your core team should come ready and be able to select a Go-Live date for your upgrade on this call. Unlike upgrades in the past, the complex nature of the upgrade requires that we schedule this date in advance. Your TSI Upgrade Specialist will contact your Core Team via email to schedule. Why is the Go-Live Date so important? Each go-live requires the use of 5-6 staff resources which are scheduled in advance. In addition, federal deadlines and the volume of upgrades means that practices and vendors have to stick to a tight schedule. Think of your Go-Live Date like the launch of a space shuttle or boarding time for a flight: if you miss the go-live date, the next launch/flight window may be weeks or months away. Unlike upgrades in the past, practices will need to move forward at steady progress and hit deadlines along the way to prevent delays. 

Your assigned TSI Healthcare EHR Upgrade Specialist will walk you through steps for a successful EHR upgrade preparation. We will provide a Gap Analysis guide (to identify differences between your current version and the new version), discuss techniques for thorough testing, explain how to submit customization requests, confirm your ability to access your TEST Database, and answer any questions you may have.   

Supporting documentation:
EHR Overview Documents (see Overview Documents & Video tab under PLAN)
Considerations for Testing

Clients will perform a Gap Analysis to identify any differences between customized content from the previous KBM templates and the new content available in the new ACE templates. The differences between the templates should be carefully reviewed to determine if the functionality gap (i.e. functions that existed on your old KBM and no longer exist in the new ACE) need to be applied to the new version.  We always recommend practices keep a running list of customizations and refer to them during upgrades to further assist with comparing functionality.  

The decision to recreate outdated functionality or configure beyond the practice standard can involve a SIGNIFICANT investment of time and resources to accomplish. As such, it’s vital to consider the impact those requests can have on your upgrade timeline. Since this upgrade requires a pre-determined Go-Live date, any delays to the 6.2021.1 upgrade may impact Quality Programs and subsequent project timelines (i.e. additional modifications to occur after the 6.2021.1 upgrade). Additionally, any identified differences will need to be reassessed during future upgrades to ensure no loss of existing clinical workflow functionality. 

Supporting Documentation:
Customization request form

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Configure

Designated Client Core Team will be responsible for reviewing all materials provided to include videos and overview documents on the new features and functionality available in NextGen version 6.2021.1.  

NOTE: some clients may have additional materials based on specialty and services offered. Your TSI Healthcare Upgrade Specialist will provide guidance on which additional training may be needed for your practice. 

To ensure a successful upgrade, testing of the NextGen 6.2021.1 update in your Test Environment is REQUIRED. This testing must be completed by your team in order to proceed with the upgrade. Please utilize the following testing checklist to verify that the NextGen software is operating as expected, all data is intact, and your staff is comfortable with the changes in the new version. 

Important: Clients that have requested customizations will be required to Re-test the completed customizations upon notification of completion in your Test database. 

Testing Checklist

Cardiology Checklist

Rheumatology Checklist

Pulmonary Checklist  (link coming soon!)

EPM/EHR Testing Checklist- Upon performing testing and completing the EPM / EHR Client Testing Checklist, please be sure to submit the full completed checklist form via one of the following methods: email to helpdesk@tsihealthcare.com.

PXP Portal Testing Checklist – Upon performing testing and completing the PXP Patient Portal Client Testing Checklist, please be sure to submit the full completed checklist form via one of the following methods: email to helpdesk@tsihealthcare.com. 

After submitting your checklist, please allow a minimum of 7-10 business days for TSI Healthcare to contact you to provide an update on your checklist review. Your Individual Upgrade Specialist will reach out to the appropriate Core team lead to schedule a checklist review call. It is important to stay on track by submitting your Testing Checklist Form and meeting the date deadline. Any delay can impact your Go-Live Date. 

Once all issues/questions have been addressed, we ask that you retest all components of your system, as any changes completed by TSI Healthcare or members of your staff may have resulted in new errors. 

Prepare

It is up to each Client to conduct internal end-user training and determine a schedule that best meets their needs. All practice staff must be trained prior to Go-Live.  

Your EHR Upgrade Specialist will provide you with a Day One Impact overview document that will highlight changes to EHR functionality. It is important that all end-users are aware of these changes. Practices may use the documentation and recordings from the PLAN > OVERVIEW DOCUMENTS & VIDEOS section above and train their team in the upgraded Test database. 

Upon completing the testing checklist and end-user training your upgrade specialist will coordinate the Upgrade Approval call to discuss details of the upgrade weekend and to confirm you are still on track to meet your pre-determined Go-Live weekend. 

 In preparation for your NextGen 6.2021.1 Go-Live, please note the following items: 

  • All users must remain off the system while the upgrade is taking place. 
  • All EHR encounters must be completed and documents generated prior to the designated upgrade start time. 
  • All pending eRx messages must be accepted/denied prior to the designated upgrade start time. 
  • All PAQ items must be approved/denied prior to the designated upgrade start time.  
  • All pending Portal forms must be accepted/denied prior to the designated upgrade start time.   

You will be asked to complete a Go-Live Approval Form which re-confirms all details relating to Go-Live. Once our team has received your signed Go-Live Approval Form and verified all tasks have been completed in preparation for your NextGen 6.2021.1 Go-Live, you will receive an email confirmation that your practice has been approved for the NextGen 6.2021.1 Upgrade in your Production Environment. 

Launch

TSI Healthcare will complete all technical aspects associated with the NextGen 6.2021.1 Upgrade in your Production Environment. At the time of the upgrade, all staff members must be logged out of NextGen by the agreed-upon time. You will be notified via email once our team has completed the upgrade in your Production Environment. You will now be ready for an internal testing  

Your practice will be assigned a dedicated EHR, EPM, and Portal Upgrade Specialist to provide support on your Go-Live date.  If you experience any issues, please call or email the TSI Healthcare Helpdesk* (1-800-354-4205 or helpdesk@tsihealthcare.com) and reference that your issue is in regards to the upgrade. Our helpdesk will be aware of your Go-Live date and will ensure that your tickets are triaged accordingly. 

*For urgent items before 8:00 AM Eastern Time, please call our after-hours line (1-800-354-4205 ext 4000) and leave a message which immediately contacts our team. 

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