Welcome to SimpleLTC's beta program for the PCC EHR. This application lets users send single and batched assessments to SimpleLTC for analysis. The analysis results are returned to the user for potential intervention and correction. This workflow allows the users to stay in PCC for the duration of the coding and submission of MDS assessments.
The browser extension, developed per Google's Chrome extension specification, is a simple website. It uses standard web languages like HTML, JS, and CSS to add functionality to any Chromium-based browser. This functionality does not extend to the host operating system or other applications on the host system.
How to install the browser extension can be a complicated question to answer. Traditionally, extensions hosted in the publishers' designated and curated platforms are the solution. However, the publisher-hosted platforms exercise total control over the publication of the product. This influence can add significate delays to updates deemed necessary by the extension's author (SimpleLTC). Because of these realities, we self-host the project. Google allows publishers to self-host these projects, providing excellent documentation on the subject. We offer guidance to our users on how to distribute the extension to their organization. Because of these constraints, the organization needs technical workers available to implement and maintain the extension installation for the org.
You will need to determine the best solution for your needs based on your circumstances. The options are your choice between "Policy" and "Local" installations. Policy installations break down into multiple solutions. If you can push policies to your organization, you should use the Policy install process.
If your organization is not large enough to necessitate remote management, you will have more challenges distributing the extension. Local installation may be your only option if the machines are distributed to the workers already and you cannot remotely manage the device.
Policy installation on Windows requires the host os to have domain management features enabled. This feature set is not available in Windows Home editions.
If your organization runs Windows with an Active Directory managed domain, you have the best circumstances to deploy the extension to the users successfully. You only need to put together a policy of registry key settings. This Policy will enable Windows to take care of managing updates for the extension. The browser and Windows integrate to poll the self-hosted extension's domain for updates.
The process, developed from Google's documentation, can be found below.
Google's documentation for Windows policy deployments.
Any system that supports the latest version of a Chromium-based browser is the only requirement.
This installation method is not recommended. There are limitations to the Local installation method that can frustrate users and IT administrators.
The most significant factor in avoiding local installation is keeping the extension up-to-date with the latest project version published by SimpleLTC. This issue can be resolved by creating a recurring task on the individual users' system to install the newest version of the extension automatically. For Windows systems, we recommend Windows Task Scheduler. In Linux environments, we recommend a CRON job to perform the task. We provide scripts to streamline downloading and unpacking the extension locally.
Other aspects of the Local installation are:
The IT administrators will be responsible for deploying and updating the installation to keep the project updated. Since the installation is considered Local, the browser will not be able to look for updates published by our self-hosted solution.
Look in our Utilities sections for scripts to download and unpack the extension on the file system.
SimpleLTC's documenation for Local installs (DOCX).For security reasons, yes.
When dealing with PHI, we take HIPAA very seriously. This recommendation is to protect the patient's PHI and those individuals that work so diligently with these patients.
If it isn't already pinned, you'll navigate to the top of the
browser, click on the jigsaw puzzle piece (like,
), and you can find it there (like,
). To make it
easier, you can hit the little pushpin icon (like,
) next to the button, which will
pin it so you can directly click it whenever necessary.
Most likely, your session has expired, and you'll need to sign back
into the browser extension. Sessions last for 30 days before needing
to sign in again. You can confirm this by navigating to PCC,
clicking on extension logo (like,
) and see if it
gives you the option to sign in. If the browser extension does not
have an authenticated session, you will see a message, 'You are not
logged into Simple.'. When you have an authenticated session, you
will see the message, 'You are logged in and ready to go!' when you
click the extension icon after confirming that you are logged into
the extension, attempt to reanalyze the assessment. If the spinning
issue persists, please reach out to SimpleLTC's support team.
Typically, your browser extension should still function as intended if you are behind a version or two. With that in mind, most changes occur towards the weekend, which means that when you come back to work on Monday and boot up your computer, it should check for any updates to the browser extension and apply them on startup. If you don't regularly restart your computer and are unsure if you should be at a different version, go ahead and restart your PC. It would help if you also considered shutting down your computer over the weekend, so you and your computer can have a much-needed break on Saturday and Sunday.
SimpleLTC uses Twilio to send SMS messages with the 2FA code to its users.
Periodically, Twilio will experience delays in delivering the message to the user. This delay is always temporary and will be resolved quickly. SimpleLTC doesn't have any influence on Twilio's delivery network. Please check the Twilio status page to check for service disruptions.
If you already have a scrubbing report, you must press the "Re-scrub" to clear out the older analysis. Then you will need to press the Simple button again to get a new report.
A batch can prematurely move into "Exported" status when the PCC user selects the "Export" button instead of the "Back" button after creating a new batch. It can also happen if the login session for the Simple browser extension has timed out.
To resolve this issue:
Customers who use Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, like Citrix, have reported issues with reliability. The issue description indicates that users will log into the environment to find the extension missing or broken. The common factor among these customers is that they use "Roaming Profile" features to migrate users from one instance to another. SimpleLTC relies on IT teams with VDI to diagnose problems and resolve the extension's reliability in the VDI.
Since the extension dependencies are stored in the user profile directories, SimpleLTC believes additional considerations are required of the IT team to resolve extension issues for the users in VDI. The solution has yet to be determined. Please get in touch with SimpleLTC for assistance or to share your answer if you have squashed this bug.
Users only require a single instance of the extension. When possible, always attempt to remove any "Local" installations.
The best method is to check the extensions management page in the browser. Below are the URLs for the internal page. Click the link below to copy the URL to your clipboard. Paste the value into the URL bar and enter to navigate there.
chrome://extensions/?id=ilppiiamejeipfopjemjamipbjahfnhh
edge://extensions/?id=ilppiiamejeipfopjemjamipbjahfnhh
Once you arrive on the management page, locate the SimpleLTC extension. Click the "Details" link associated with the extension. You will see a "Source" label. If the installation is a "Local," you will see the phrase "Unpacked." Otherwise, you will see "Added by your organization" as the source. The second message indicates that the extension is installed by Policy.
You can verify that the policy you published has been propagated to the users by navigating the browser's internal policy area.
chrome://policy
edge://policy
You will see the policy rules listed in this area if the installation is a policy install. The browser will also indicate if the policy values are valid or "blocked."
Open the registry editor and locate the policy rules in the editor.
If you can load these URLs in your browser, you should be clear to use the extension.
If you are having issues with loading these pages, please reach out to your organization's networking team for assistance.
SimpleLTC's core application hosting the analytics tools required to process and transmit assessments from nursing facilities to CMS.
This app securely bridges the browser extension to the SimpleLTC Secure application. This application hosts the update URL that publishes updates to users. You should see a JSON string response with a timestamp, extension version, and server version.
https://ehr.simple.health/ping
An EHR application focused on coding resident assessments.
https://login.pointclickcare.com/home/userLogin.xhtml
SimpleLTC uses Twilio to send SMS messages with the 2FA code to its users.
Please check the Twilio status page to check for service disruptions.
If you can load all of these URLs and you still have an issue using the extension please contact our Support team.
Call 469.916.2800 or E-mail.