Encounter completion — order sets

Reusable order bundles

An order set is a saved bundle of orders — labs, imaging, referrals, and medications — that you drop onto a patient in one step instead of searching for each item. A diabetes work-up, an annual wellness panel, a statin-monitoring recheck: build the bundle once, then apply it in seconds every visit. Each item in a set carries its own timing, so a single set can order some things now and schedule others for weeks or months out.

There are two places order sets live:

• In the visit — the Order Sets tab. Open Search Orders from the encounter and pick the Order Sets tab (the indigo layers icon) alongside Medication, Lab, Imaging, and the rest. This is where you apply a set.
• In Settings — the editor. The top-right user menu → Order Sets opens the editor, where you create, edit, duplicate, and delete sets and seed the starter presets (see Build and manage sets).

A Scheduled orders panel in the encounter’s order entry area lists any upcoming (or failed) releases a set has queued, so future labs and imaging never fall off the radar (see the Scheduled orders panel).

Apply an order set to the visit

Picking a set from the Order Sets tab opens the apply dialog. It lists every item in the set grouped by type — Labs, Imagings, Medications, Referrals — each with a checkbox, its release timing, and an expander for the detail. You confirm what you want, then add it all at once.

1. Review what’s selected. Each item’s checkbox is pre-set from the set’s defaults — core items come checked, optional ones (an add-on ultrasound, say) come unchecked. Uncheck anything you don’t want for this patient; it’s skipped without changing the saved set.
2. Open an item for the detail. Click the chevron to expand a row. Labs and imaging show the Clinical indication, Priority, and linked Diagnoses chips; medications show the sig and dose; imaging that needs a side shows its laterality. You can adjust any of it here (see Timing).
3. Add them. The action button counts up what you’ll create — e.g. Add 2 now · schedule 1 means two orders staged on the encounter now and one queued for a future release. Immediate items land in the order list; scheduled items go to the Scheduled orders panel.

Immediate, delayed, and standing

The heart of an order set is when each item releases. Every item carries one of three timings, set on the item and adjustable at apply time by expanding its row.

Expand any item in the apply dialog to see and change its Release (Now or After a delay, with the interval and unit), its Standing order repeat toggle, and its Clinical indication, Priority, and Diagnoses. A short note under the controls spells out the schedule in plain language — “Releases automatically 6 weeks after ordering.”

Track releases in the Scheduled orders panel

Delayed and standing items don’t disappear until their date — they collect in the Scheduled orders panel inside the encounter’s Create Orders dialog. The panel header shows how many releases are pending and the next date (for example 1 upcoming · next Aug 25, 2026), and each row names the order, its release date, and the set it came from.

1. Read the queue. Each scheduled row shows a type chip (Lab, Imaging, Referral), the order name, the release date, and from <set name> so you know its origin. Failed releases stay here too, flagged with the reason they didn’t fire.
2. Release early or cancel. Release now fires a scheduled order immediately instead of waiting for its date. Cancel drops a single upcoming release; for a standing series, Cancel series stops all remaining occurrences at once.
3. Let releases happen on their own. On each item’s date the order is created automatically and appears in your normal lab, imaging, or referral worklists as an unsent ordered / pending record, ready for staff to transmit.

Build and manage sets in Settings

Open the editor from the top-right user menu → Order Sets. The left column lists your sets with a search box, + New set, and a Starter sets button; the right pane edits whichever set you select. When you have none yet, the pane invites you to create one or add the starters.

1. Name and scope the set. Give it a Name, a short Description, and a Specialty. Visibility chooses who sees it — Everyone in the practice (org-wide) or Only me (personal). The personal-only choice is gated to the set’s creator. Leave Active checked to make it available in the order search.
2. Add items. Under Add item, pick a type — Lab, Imaging, Medication, or Referral — and search the catalog. Referrals can also be authored by hand with an optional destination name and NPI. Reorder items with the up/down arrows or remove them with the trash icon.
3. Configure each item. Expand an item to set its Display name, whether it’s Pre-checked when applying (the default-selected state), its Release timing and Standing order repeat, its Diagnoses, and a Notes line that shows when the set is applied.
4. Save, duplicate, or delete. Save changes commits your edits. Duplicate clones the set as a starting point for a variant; Delete removes it.

Seed the ten starter presets

You don’t have to build a library from scratch. The Starter sets button seeds ten built-in internal-medicine presets in one click. It’s idempotent — running it again only fills gaps rather than creating duplicates — and once sets exist the button reads Restore starters. A toast confirms Added 10 starter order sets.

The ten presets are ready to apply as-is or to duplicate and tailor:

• Anemia Workup — initial laboratory evaluation of undifferentiated anemia (CBC, reticulocyte count, ferritin, iron/TIBC, B12, folate).
• Annual Wellness Labs — a comprehensive adult preventive-visit screening panel.
• Diabetes — Initial Workup — the newly-diagnosed type 2 evaluation, including an ophthalmology referral.
• Diabetes — Quarterly Monitoring — a standing quarterly HbA1c (repeats every 3 months ×4) with a semiannual metabolic panel and an annual nephropathy screen.
• Hypertension Workup — the initial evaluation for newly-diagnosed hypertension.
• New Patient Baseline Labs — baseline labs for new adult patients, including a urinalysis.
• Osteoporosis Evaluation — a work-up with a standing repeat DEXA.
• Pre-Operative Clearance — the pre-op panel, including a chest X-ray.
• Statin Initiation & Follow-up — baseline lipids and hepatic function with an automatic 12-week lipid recheck (delayed).
• Thyroid Management — baseline thyroid function with an automatic 6-week TSH recheck after a dose change, plus an optional thyroid ultrasound.

Guardrails & troubleshooting

Order sets validate the same things a hand-entered order does, both when you apply a set and again when a scheduled item releases. A few guardrails are worth knowing in advance.

A scheduled order didn’t release

Failed releases don’t vanish — they stay in the Scheduled orders panel with the reason they didn’t fire (a provider who was deactivated, a binding that was removed, a validation that no longer passes). Resolve the underlying issue, then Release now to fire it manually, or Cancel the release if it’s no longer needed.