‘Observation’ encounter type in Clinical Viewer

Any suggestions on a way to indicate when a patient encounter is in an ‘Observation’ status** in Clinical Viewer? Clients would like to be able to distinguish between true ‘Inpatient’ or ‘Emergency’ status and ‘Observation,’ especially given that encounters often cycle between various statuses.

HealthShare only allows for the following ‘encounter type’ values, and anything that does not match will be translated to Outpatient by HealthShare

• I = Inpatient
• O = Outpatient
• E = Emergency patient
• C = Community
• N = Not applicable or New born
• P = PreAdmit
• G = Generated
• S = Silent

**CMS definition: ‘Observation’ status is commonly assigned to patients who present to the emergency department and who then require a significant period of treatment or monitoring before a decision is made concerning their admission or discharge.