Perceptive/Document Scanning F.A.Q. (Frequently Asked Questions)

Owned by Daniel Smith
Last updated: Aug 24, 2018
3 min read

What is Perceptive? 

  • Perceptive is a product separate from Avatar owned by Lexmark that was made to import or scan images and documents to eliminate paper, assist workflows and make it easier to access important information quickly. 

  • The company that owns Avatar, Netsmart, has partnered with Lexmark to use the Perceptive product to support this functionality within Avatar and allow Telecare to move towards a fully Electronic Health Record.

How do I log into Perceptive?

  • You do not have to log in separately to any application in order to scan or import documents into Avatar. Simply logging into Avatar is sufficient. 

Can I scan into Avatar using Perceptive directly? 

  • Unfortunately, no. Scanning client information into Avatar requires an active Avatar session and initiating the scanning/import process from within the client chart. 

Can I scan documents while accessing Avatar via Citrix?

  • Unfortunately, no. The setup of your hardware (the scanner) and its interaction with Avatar dictates scanning must be done by accessing Avatar directly via your browser – specifically Internet Explorer. 
  • However, you can perform all other functions related to scanning (i.e. viewing documents, making corrections) regardless of whether you are accessing Avatar via Citrix or directly. 

How do I scan documents into Avatar?

  • You may either scan them into Avatar using an approved, standard scanner hooked up to your computer or by importing documents directly into Avatar from a network drive using the import feature. Instructions for that are here: Using Document Capture

How do I view saved documents?

  • There are two ways:
    1. By opening a Chart View on a client and looking for the "Documents" header on the left side; it should have links to the document categories that have content. Once you select one, you can then select the episode under which the documents were scanned and the individual document(s) to view them. Here's an article on how to do that: Viewing Documents from Chart View
    2. By accessing the "Clinical Document Viewer" from your Home View; from there, you will be able to select parameters to refine a search and view saved documents (reminder: the more narrowly-defined your parameters, the faster your search). Depending on your role, you may have to utilize option #1. Here's an article on how to do that: Using Clinical Document Viewer to search documents

What is the different between "batch" scanning and "document capture?"

  • "Batch" scanning is a type of scanning designed to assist with scanning in a high amount of documents into multiple client charts, episodes or document types all at once. It does this via the creation of barcode headersheets placed at the appropriate points in the document batch; the software will read the barcodes and assign them to the client/episode/document type based on what it reads. (article for that is here: Document Scanning - Creating Barcodes, and the headersheets templates are here: Document Scanning Headersheet Templates)
  • "Document Capture," sometimes called POS (Point of Service) scanning is better suited for short scanning sessions with either a small amount of documents, or even a high amount of documents being scanned into a single client and document type. 

Who can view saved documents? 

  • In general, anyone with access to a client's Chart View can view saved documents by looking on the left side of a client chart and seeing which document types have content.

Who can scan documents into Avatar? 

  • Designated MRT (Medical Record Tech), admin staff or even staff on the unit may have this ability; this can vary depending on an individual program's workflow and staffing.