Overview
This guide explains how to prevent duplicate patient records from being created in Lightning Step EMR when using the Dazos integration. By adjusting a specific setting, you can ensure that patients are created only once and avoid duplicate inquiries.
Before You Begin
You'll need administrator access to your Dazos EMR integration settings. This solution specifically addresses the issue where the automatic patient creation feature creates duplicate inquiries for patients who already exist in Lightning Step.
Steps
Step 1: Turn Off Automatic Patient Creation
Navigate to your Lightning Step integration settings in Dazos and locate the "Automatically send patient to EMR" setting. Turn this setting off to prevent automatic creation of duplicate patient records.
⚠️ Important: This change takes effect immediately and stops all automatic patient creation in Lightning Step.
Step 2: Use Manual Push for New Patients Only
From now on, use the manual "Push to EMR" action on opportunities. However, only use this on opportunities that don't already show a "Linked EMR Record."
To check if a patient already exists:
Open the opportunity in Dazos
Look for the "Linked EMR Record" panel
If this panel is already populated, the patient exists in Lightning Step
If the panel is empty, you can safely push the patient to the EMR
Step 3: Handle Existing Linked Records
If the Linked EMR Record panel shows existing information:
Do not use "Push to EMR" again
Edit the patient directly in Lightning Step if needed
Update information from the existing opportunity in Dazos
Pushing again will create a duplicate inquiry
Verification / Expected Result
After implementing these changes, you should see:
No new automatic duplicate patient records were created in Lightning Step
Manual pushes only work for truly new patients
Existing patient updates continue to sync between systems
The "update" behavior for linked records remains functional
✅ What still works: Edits made in Dazos will still flow into existing linked Lightning Step charts, so day-to-day syncing of admission dates, demographics, and opportunity information continues normally.
Troubleshooting / Common Errors
Issue: I accidentally pushed an existing patient again and created a duplicate
Solution: The duplicate must be cleaned up in Lightning Step. Contact Lightning Step support or have an LS admin on your team merge or close the duplicate inquiry.
Issue: Updates aren't syncing between systems
Solution: Verify that the "update" behavior is still enabled in your integration settings. Only the automatic creation was disabled.