How to convert a 14 page word document into an electronic format

@mdsupport
Hi,
Thought I would start a new conversation with a puzzle that was brought to me.
IM CANS Form blank.docx (146.9 KB)

This page is 14 pages long!
Looking for ideas on how to get it into the program. Here is the kicker. It is a state form. The form needs to be printed out in the same format to give to the state. Any ideas would be great. LBF is out of the question. Hard coding would take weeks to do.

Has anyone created a document this large before and how did you do it?

hi @juggernautsei, maybe take a look at how the HCFA 1500s are produced?

actually, looks like an xml file can be uploaded according to the guide

Actually Institutional billing UB04 is a form I produced that started as a pdf where I converted to an absolute positioning html form.
So it’s docx to pdf to html. The parsing/save JS routines are in that project already to manage the html form. Also most states have any required forms in pdf form too.
I’ve also have done others for occupational health like OSHA and DOT forms so, it’s doable.

2 Likes

@juggernautsei, it may take bit extra effort for first form but a more flexible approach can be to treat emr as data repository with sql (for raw data) and restful api (for complex data). Once you put the basic structure in place, you gain the freedom to use native data handling features - e.g. mail/merge for office, pdf scripting or several other tools. You can then support future form changes or several additional forms with minimal efforts.

Best.

Can you point me to some required reading?
Thank you for your comment. @mdsupport

Couldn’t you build an LBF form or several to break up this monstrosity with the required elements and then follow the xml creation guide? They have a nice video at the above link.

I looked for the XML guide and did not find any video. Could you point it out please?

sure @juggernautsei, webinar

There are multiple choices based on external products and how pure the end user wants to be to open source.

If the clinic already has MS Office license and the form data can be fetched by a comprehensive view, create ODBC source linked to that view. One of the first search result will give you some ideas.

For complex data, create any api with json response that can be called and applied to a form using e.g. Adobe Acrobat’s scripting feature.

@mdsupport you are taking me way back with the ODBC driver. I have not used those in over 10 years. Hey! It might be time to invest time in what can be done now with PHP and ODBC.

They are all different lipsticks on same pig. Whatever looks prettier to you!

Do you have an official copy of this form as a fillable PDF format?
I’d like to try running it through a PDF Builder I am working on for OpenEMR.

@ophthal I don’t but I will see if I can get a PDF
The official PDF is not fillable.
IM CANSLifespanVersion17118.pdf (589.7 KB)