Athenahealth Features That Will Make Your Life Easier: Part 1 - Order Alarms
I recently discovered how to mark messages in my phone as unread and, wow, has it been a game changer. This has been a capability for over a year, but I was completely oblivious. If there was ever an instance where I needed to follow up on a text message that I couldn't respond to immediately, I would create an additional reminder in my phone so I wouldn't forget to respond later. I created a workaround to make up for a feature that already existed.
Ever wonder if you are guilty of doing the same thing within your EMR and Practice Management Systems? The Ignite Consultants see this too frequently from a clinical, revenue, financial and patient communication perspective. We'd like to kick off a new blog series highlighting the most underutilized parts of athena.
We’ll be launching this series with an overview of athena Order Alarms. There are multiple alarms in athena – some you see in the UI and have control over, such as Order Alarms, while others are not as transparent and cannot be customized, such as Claim Alarms.
What Are Order Alarms?
Order Alarms have both clinical and schedule management benefits. They provide a way for providers and/or staff to track and monitor an order to ensure it is completed or resulted by the patient and/or receiving facility. Order Alarms can be found when placing a new clinical order in the “Assessment and Plan.”
Why Order Alarms Matter
When using an alarm on a clinical order, you are telling athena to remind you to follow up on the specific order based on the timeline you specify in the “alarm” dropdown.
For instance, if an alarm on a lab order is set for two weeks and within two weeks of submitting the order a result is not received, or it is received but doesn’t get properly linked back to the original order, then the alarm will go off.
A new task will populate in the “Need Follow Up” section of the Clinical Inbox to prompt you or your staff to ensure the lab was performed. If you notice your “Need Follow Up” bucket growing out of control, then it may be time to revisit your default order alarm values.
How to Adjust Order Alarm Settings
Each order type has a default alarm value that ranges from one to two weeks. This default may be overridden at the practice or individual level in a few ways.
1. When Placing a New Order: Within an Encounter or Order Group, you can adjust an individual order’s alarm before selecting “Sign Orders.”
2. Within Order Sets: Alarms can be customized at both the user and practice level:
a. User level: Go to ⚙️ User Cogwheel → Order Sets
b. Practice level: Go to ⚙️ Clinicals Admin Cogwheel → Order Sets
3. Via User Preferences: If you'd prefer not to default alarms on every order:
a. Navigate to ⚙️ User Preferences
b. Check the box: “No lab alarms by default”
c. This can help reduce noise for power users with high volumes of low-priority orders.
4. Using Order Routes: Override the default alarm value and specify the configuration at the order type group, department or receiving clinical provider level.
A Quick Note on Alarm Hierarchy
athena uses a hierarchy to determine which alarm value takes precedence if multiple settings exist.
📎 Check out this helpful guide on alarm hierarchy to understand how athena prioritizes them.
Bonus: Don’t Forget About Order Reminders!
The Order Reminder feature is a great partner to Order Alarms. Once a task appears in “Need Follow Up,” staff can send a direct communication to the patient.
To send a reminder:
Open the task in Clinical Inbox.
Click “Send Order Reminder via Communicator.”
Choose from call, email, or text—based on the patient’s communication preferences.
Final Thoughts
Order Alarms are one of those features that—once set up properly—quietly boost compliance and reduce chart chasing.
Whether you're a provider, clinical support staff, or practice manager, fine-tuning these alarms is an easy win for your workflows.
Did you know this athena feature existed? If not, let's chat! We'd love to help you implement these workflows at your practice to be more efficient!
*athena releases and updates may alter above mentioned feature capabilities
