Ardens have created searches to support practices with claiming for Minor Surgery and Joint Injections. 

Please note - these are mainly for Ardens Starter customers: if you are a Ardens Plus or Pro Customer, these searches maybe part of your Local Commissioned Services content, please check the appropriate Ardens CCG searches folder to locate these searches.

We encourage practices to use the Ardens Minor Surgery/Joint Injection template or equivalent Ardens CCG Master template (for Plus and Pro Customers) to ensure relevant coding is entered for payment claims.

Ardens Minor Surgery and Joint Injection Reports

To locate the searches, access the Population Reporting module > Ardens Searches > 5.50 Contracts - Local (generic) > Minor Surgery & Joint Injection folder:

The searches and reports contains the most commonly used minor surgery and joint injection payment codes. We do recommend viewing the code set included, to ensure the payment codes are correct for your area.

To check codes included, select the search and click on the Definition tab. Double click on the Clinical Code option to view the list of codes.

The searches and reports included for minor surgery excisions and incisions are as follows:

• Minor surgery: Excision or incision done - All - this search will display all patients coded with  'Minor surgery done - incision' 'Minor surgery done - excision' codes in the desired time frame (please see below on setting a date parameter). 
• 1a. Count of Procedure types if recorded - reports on the different procedure types in the set time frame. The report will display the procedure types (code term used) and count (of clinical codes) for each.
• 1b. List of pts, claim code & procedure - displays details of the claim code added, the procedure carried out and the consent code for each patient. Please note - in most areas both a claim code and procedure must be recorded for payment claims.

The searches and reports included for joint injections are as follows:

• Minor Surgery: Joint injection - Injection/Aspiration - this search will display all patients coded with 'Minor surgery done - injection' and 'Minor surgery done - aspiration' codes in the desired time frame (please see below on setting a date parameter). 
• 2a. Count of procedure types if recorded - reports on the type of injection and count (of clinical codes) for each in a set time period.
• 2b. List of pts, claim code & procedure - displays details of the claim code added, the procedure carried out and the consent code for each patient. Please note - in most areas both a claim code and procedure must be recorded for payment claims.

The searches and reports included for other types of minor surgery are as follows:

• Minor Surgery: Other – this search will display all patients coded with any other minor surgery done code excluding those from the above searches, in the desired time frame (please see below on setting a date parameter).
• 3a. Count of procedure types if recorded - reports on the type of procedure and count (of clinical codes) for each in a set time period.
• 3b. List of pts, claim code & procedure -displays details of the claim code added, the procedure carried out and the consent code for each patient.  Please note - in most areas a claim code and a procedure must be recorded for payment claims.

To run the searches above, right click on the search (ideally search 1. and then search 2. as this will run the reports at the same time) and select Run. 

The searches include a data parameter, which will allow you run the data in your required time frame, i.e. monthly, yearly, quarterly. For more information on using data parameter in a search, please see this following support article. Select the appropriate time frame and click OK.

Once run, this will populate the Population Count column. Please note - the reports may display with a high number, please ignore this, once you click on the View Results option, this will display the break down of numbers.

Searches and reports number 3, identifies patients coded with a minor surgery code that is not commonly used in specifications. We advise practices to check the coding used to ensure patients will be picked up in payment, amending the code if necessary. 

To do this, run report number 3 and select the Population Included tab once done. Right click on the patient and select 'Check Patient', this will display the minor surgery code recorded. 

Access the patient record and amend the code if necessary. 

The Data Quality search folder identifies patients with a procedure code but no minor surgery code recorded.

Ardens Minor Surgery Template

To support data entry, Ardens have created a generic Minor Surgery/Joint Injection template to capture activity. Please note - if you are a Ardens Plus or Ardens Pro customer, there may be a template specific to your CCG, in which the coding will have been aligned to your local specifications – in this case you should use your local template instead of the generic one. 

To access the Ardens Minor Surgery/Joint Injection Template from a patient record, click on the Run Template option in a open consultation (alternatively, outside of a consultation click on the Add > Data using Template option). 

This will open the Template Picker screen, type in the required term using the search box provided (alternatively select the Ardens folder in the folder navigation pane, navigate to the Consultation Templates > Procedure folder). Double click on the template to launch.

Complete the necessary fields and Save template once complete. 

If you require any further assistance on the process above, please contact Ardens support on: [email protected]