When a provider is working within a patient encounter, he or she will be presented with certain document skeletons (DS) to choose from that are relevant to that encounter. Triggers are bits of information associated with specific DS that help to identify and present the particular DS the provider needs based on information entered during the encounter.
NOTE: When a document skeleton is triggered it does not actually become part of the encounter documentation until the provider has reviewed and verified it. A provider may be presented with numerous document skeletons that were triggered, but will then choose only those that are relevant to the encounter.
These triggers are set when creating or editing a document skeleton. Examples of triggers are the diagnosis codes assigned to the encounter or a patient's age, race, or gender. Triggers can be used alone or in combination with other triggers.
For example, suppose your provider has a certain set of physical exams that she routinely performs on older patients with a diagnosis of osteoarthritis. Once you have constructed the physical exams document skeletons, you can then trigger those DS by adding specific ICD-10 codes and age groups with them.
These triggers are added by selecting the tabs located at the top of the various document skeleton pages.