During recent upgrades to 11.4.1, clients have encountered a bit of a surprise: Retired Problems!  There are regulations that require IMO (Intelligent Medical Objects) to retire codes behind some of the terms organizations have diligently mapped to Medcin terms in the PMT (Problem Mapping Tool).  These changes do not affect the ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes, but rather the terms’ “behind the scenes” database codes. I’ve seen lists of retired terms on clients’ systems stretch anywhere from zero to a couple hundred lines long.  Some will be resolved through SYNC and by trickle down, so take a deep breath… it isn’t as bad as you might think.

Allscripts is continuously working to keep up with these retired problems and to find solutions to mitigate their impact, including a Retired Problem script that the Upgrade Tech can run.   Here are some tips to reduce your time with the retired problems and your end users’ time spent on problem conversions. Granted, some problems will need to be converted by the provider due to the specificity required, but for less specific terms, this will help.

Before the upgrade process begins, be sure that you have loaded the latest mapping files from Allscripts.  Do this by clicking the “Check for New Version and Download” button and then, if the “Apply New Version to PMT” button becomes active, be sure to apply that too.  Rerun your frequencies so you have the latest numbers, which will help you find the terms later in the process.  Review and approve the new Allscripts mappings (look for the green star), and be sure to complete and approve all terms that you want mapped.  Keep in mind that the PMT only picks up the approved mappings, and everything you haven’t approved will not be converted.  (If you need assistance with mapping, Galen can assist)

Ask your IC and UT about the Retired Problems list shortly after the Test/Pre-Prod system upgrade to allow more time to work this list.  The tech will take the files from the PMT and move them to the new system where the ATP (Allscripts Terminology Platform) is working.  This system communicates with IMO and will supply the latest active terms. After the UT runs the Retired Problem script, work your spreadsheet to find and remap the retired problems in your PMT.  Sorting by frequency will expedite the process, so ensure that you run the frequencies before the tech moves the files to the test system.   

Be sure to point your PMT to the Test/Pre-Prod environment before you start remapping.  This is where the active IMO terms will be available for use in your system.

Once you are done remapping, the UT can rerun the script to be sure you got them all.

I hope this little post has helped you to understand what to expect when it comes to PMT and your upgrade and will make the process a little less stressful.  For step-by-step instructions on how to work with the spreadsheet and PMT, see the Galen wiki.