Group Therapy Sessions: Creating, Scheduling, Charting, Payments

Looking to create and chart on group sessions?

Within the Article:

• Create Client Group
• Add Clients to Group
• Edit Group Settings
• Group Payments and Charting

Create Client Group

To add a new group, follow these steps:

• Click Clients (left menu)
• Click the 👥 New Group button
• Complete the required line items, making sure to set up the CPT code typically used for group therapy
• Click Save

Add Clients to Group

Within Clients (left menu), the new group will now show near the top of the list:

• Locate and select the newly added group, then add every client being seen in the new group (shown above)
• Click Done

Alternatively, from a client's profile, you can add a particular client to a group, or manage the client's existing group membership:

Within an existing group listed in the client profile, you'll see two icons at the far right:

• To remove a client from the group, click the red x with a person icon
• To edit that specific group, click the dark grey pencil within a square icon

Edit Group Settings

To edit group-specific settings, from Clients you'd find your group and click on it, then on Edit Group:

There you can edit group-specific settings, like:

• Group Name: which will be used in your client list
• Group Initials: which will be used on the schedule
• Group CPT Code: which will be used as the default CPT code for the group (this can be overridden on the client level of the group's appointment, more information on that can be found in the section below)

Group Payments and Charting

Once the new group has been created and clients added, it is time to get them on the schedule! 

Do this as you would a client, via the schedule. The simplest step is to click on the day/time desired, then add the group like you would any other appointment (tip: type group or the group name for the group to show up).

Once on the schedule -- click on the appointment to manage attendance, payment, and charting (below):

Attendance

For attendance, you can either choose to mark them all as attended, or one by one (don't worry, so long as you don't lock the chart note you can adjust this later).

The main breakdown in attendance is yes or no:

• With yes, you can specify a CPT code (even no fee)
• With no, you can pick from the available system codes (no show, late cancel, or no fee)

If you wish to adjust them one by one, you can click the dropdown and choose which particular CPT code to bill them at .

To edit the CPT code already selected, click the pencil icon and then the dropdown to change the CPT code.

• Accept Payment if you wish to collect the payment. This will take you through the normal, individual payment process for this particular client.
• Start Charting document any notes for the group and individual processes within one screen:
  • If looking to use a custom chart note template already created, select it from the 'Chart Entry Style' drop-down. Related article: Chart Note Templates
  • Document the group process relevant to the session.
  • If needed, under each client specific note you can add a part that will only become part of their chart note
  ⚠️ Note: The group note is placed on every attendees record. Any individual comments will go only into that specific client's record.
• Review and Sign the note ('Finalize and Lock')

Later when looking at the client’s record for the note, notice that the group process and the specific individual’s process is visible within the client’s record.