Navigation:  Creating Image Files and PDFs > Configuring Image Setup

How can I setup my images?

Images created with the HIPAA Claim Master application may be set up according to the user's needs. To complete this configuration, follow the steps below:

 

1. Select Image > Image File Options in the main menu.

 

 

The following window will open:

 

 

2. After making your edits, click "Save."

 

Which options can I customize?

See the details of each specific option below:

 

Image File Options

 

 

This box contains specific options regarding the storage and creation of image files. See the settings below:

oOutput Directory for Image Files — Here, you must set the path to the folder where the image files will be saved.

 

The next setting will determine how an image file is named and created:

oPut All Images into the Same File and Use the Name of the EDI File for the Image File — This option allows you to create a single multi-page file with all the claim images using the EDI filename with a .tiff or .pdf extension.

oCreate an Image File for Each Claim — This option creates a separate image file for each claim in the EDI file. You can specify how the file will be named, that is, what information will be included in the file name. See the File ID Options:

§Original FileName + CLM_01

§Provider's Claim ID - CML_01 — The Provider's Claim ID from the CML_01 segment.

§Clearing House ID - REF*D9 — The Clearing House ID from the REF*D9 value.

§Document Control No - REF*F8 — The Medical Record Number (REF*F8).

§Repriced Claim No - REF*9A — The Repricer's Claim ID (REF*9A).

§Medical Record No - REF*EA — For example, REF*EA.

§A Sequential ID - SeqID — A sequential number starting at one (SeqID).

§NTE*ADD Segment - 17 bytes

 

Note: The previous two options ("Put All Images into the Same File and Use the Name of the EDI File for the Image File" and "Create an Image File for Each Claim") are mutually exclusive; you can only select one or the other.

 

You can create a hierarchy that determines which ID will be used for the file name. In the picture below, you see that the "Provider's Claim ID - CML_01" is the preferred file name. If such a segment is not present, then the second option is the "Document Control No - REF*F8", the third is the "Clearing House ID - REF*D9," and so on. If none of these segments are mandatory, you might encounter claims that do not produce an image name. We recommend using the "Provider's Claim ID - CML_01" as a fallback option when naming image files.

 

 

To prevent overwriting existing image files, the HIPAA Claim Master application checks if a file with that name already exists and starts appending enumerations to the filename. For example, WD34222_3.pdf would be the 4th instance of a file with WD34222 as the Claim ID.

 

Image Format

 

 

You may choose either PDF (Portable Document Format) or TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) as claim formats. These are the most widely used image formats.

 

Print Additional Pages

 

 

HIPAA Claim Master gives you the option to include additional data contained in the file that is not displayed on a standard form. You can choose to include additional pages with either COB information or other segments with additional information on the standard forms.

 

If these two boxes are left unchecked, the additional information will not be included in the image file.

 

Image Folder Options

 

 

When you create image files of claims, you could soon end up with thousands of images in one folder. Windows has real problems with folders containing more than 1,000 files. For this reason, the HIPAA Claim Master application can hash the images over many folders to ensure that file quantities per folder remain low.

 

 

As shown, there is a folder with the year 2010 under the Output directory, then sub-directories with the month which are further subdivided into days of the month. The "2010/September/1" folder contains all the images created that day.

 

Document Color on Images

 

 

This section of the setup window manages the output colors. The form background can be set to red to make the form more visually appealing and to allow the use of a color filter for OCR software.

 

Options for PDF

 

 

oUse Content Compression — Checking this option results in considerably smaller files. You can choose to compress the content, thereby reducing the file size by roughly 50%.

 

Options for TIFF

 

 

Here you can adjust the settings of TIFF image files, see the details for each below:

 

Color Depth

You can change the color depth of the image by selecting the number of bits per pixel (bpp):

oBlack/White (The black-and-white (bi-level) image means that for each pixel (picture element) in the image, we do not need three bytes as in the true color image (over 16.7 million colors), but only one bit that is 1/24 part of the pixel size from the true color image. The one-bit pixel can express only black or white colors, nothing more.)

o4 bpp

o8 bpp

o24 bpp

o32 bpp

 

Note: TIFF in Window's GDI library does not work with 16 bpp. Color depths set lower than 16 bpp will result in some losses in image quality.

 

Compression

You can compress TIFF files to optimize space; LZW and Packbits are used for all colors; CCITT Group 3 and 4 are only available for black-and-white.

oLZW — You can compress any TIFF image of any bit depth using LZW, a lossless compression method. The application can store the compressed image in a TIFF file or keep it in memory. An average 2:1 compression ratio is achieved with LZW compression on images.

oPackbits — You can compress and decompress grayscale, palette, and bitonal images using Packbits—another lossless compression method. Packbits are fast, widely supported, and provide good compression of sparse images, such as scanned documents. The application can store the compressed image in a TIFF file or keep it in memory.

 

Photometric Interpretation

For the black-and-white and grayscale images, when "Black/White" or "4 bpp" options are selected as color depth, you can specify the intended interpretation of the image pixel data. Select one of the following options:

oWhite is Zero — The minimum sample value is displayed as white.

oBlack is Zero — Default value; the minimum sample value is displayed as black.

 

Image Resolution

You can change the horizontal and vertical resolution of images from 96 to 300 dpi (dots per inch). The default resolution is 200 dpi. The same rule applies here: the larger the resolution, the more computing time and power are consumed and, therefore, the larger the image file sizes.

oVertical Resolution = Horizontal Resolution — If this box is checked, the horizontal and vertical resolutions will have the same dpi.

 

Note: Choosing a higher resolution will slow down processing significantly and affect the final quality.

 

If you want the selected values as default, you may click "Set default values" to keep the settings the same for all images created in the future.