You should not make changes to an existing plan. If you do make a change, it will affect ALL patients who are already attached to the plan.
If you are trying to create a new insurance plan by changing an existing plan’s information – STOP
THINK to CONSIDER the consequences
In this case, you should not make changes to an existing plan. Changing only a few things in an existing plan will change the plan for EVERY patient who uses the plan. This may not be the desired result.
Each insurance plan is unique regarding the combination of (1) insurance carrier, (2) employer, (3) group number, (4) benefits, and (5) coverage.If such changes are made, the information is changed for all patients already associated with that plan.
If any of the above listed five areas of consideration are different than the existing plan, then (and only then) do you add a new plan.
To reduce duplications, users should always “Search First, Add Last” regarding insurance plans.
Users should “Search First” the existing list of insurance plans to ensure the fully desired plan is not already in existence in the office's database, with exactly the plan parameters it should possess. If the fully desired plan is not in the list, only then should a new plan be entered; that is, “Add Last.” "Fully desired plan" means that all five items of consideration match exactly.
The only edits that should be made to existing plans are plan modifications for that particular plan. That is, if the insurance carrier revises the information (usually maximum benefit amounts or coverage percentages) for a particular plan for a particular group number for a particular employer.