Overview
The Care Plan Templates feature enables organizations to standardize care planning by creating reusable templates that contain pre-configured clinical content for common chronic conditions, programs, and patient populations.
Rather than building every Care Plan from scratch, care coordinators can apply a template that automatically populates recommended assessments, preventive services, SMART Goals, interventions, self-management activities, and other clinical content. Users can then customize the template to meet the individual needs of each patient.
Templates significantly reduce documentation time while ensuring consistency across care teams and improving adherence to organizational care protocols.
Purpose of Care Plan Templates
Templates help organizations:
Standardize Care Plans across multiple care coordinators.
Reduce repetitive data entry.
Improve documentation consistency.
Ensure recommended interventions are not overlooked.
Support evidence-based care planning.
Accelerate Care Plan creation.
Maintain organization-specific clinical workflows.
Templates provide a starting point and should always be reviewed and personalized before the Care Plan is finalized.
Before You Begin
Before using Care Plan Templates, ensure that:
You have permission to create or use templates.
The patient has been enrolled in the appropriate care management program.
Relevant diagnoses and clinical information have been reviewed.
Organization-specific templates have been configured, if applicable.
Navigation
To use an existing template:
Log in to the HealthArc Portal.
Navigate to Patients.
Select the desired patient.
Open the Care Plan tab.
Click Create Care Plan.
Select Use Template.
To manage templates (administrative users):
Navigate to Settings → Template Library → Care Plan Template → Create Manually
View, create, edit, or manage available templates.
What Is Included in a Template?
A Care Plan template includes preconfigured clinical content that serves as the foundation for a patient-specific Care Plan.
Main sections within the Care Plan Template include:
Template Metadata
SMART Goals
Preventive Services
Intervention/Activities
Assessments & Observations
Education & Self-management
Preview & Publish
After a template is applied, all imported content remains editable.
Creating a Care Plan from a Template
To create a new Care Plan using a template:
Open the patient's record.
Navigate to the Care Plan section.
Click Create Care Plan.
Select Create using Template.
Choose the appropriate Care Plan template.
Review the template details.
Click Create.
The system automatically populates the Care Plan with the template's predefined content.
Reviewing Imported Content
After a template has been applied, review each section carefully before saving the Care Plan. Verify:
Patient demographics
Diagnoses
Assessments
Preventive Services
SMART Goals
Interventions
Self-Management Tasks
Risk Classification recommendations
Care Team Notes
Remember that templates are intended to provide a starting point and may require modification based on the patient's individual clinical needs.
Editing Template Content
After the Care Plan has been generated from a template, users can modify any imported information. Common updates include:
Removing goals that do not apply.
Adding patient-specific interventions.
Adjusting target dates.
Updating preventive services.
Revising self-management activities.
Modifying education topics.
Updating follow-up recommendations.
Changes made to an individual patient's Care Plan do not alter the original template.
Creating a New Template
Users with the appropriate administrative permissions can create reusable templates for their organization. To create a new template:
Navigate to Settings → Template Library → Care Plan Template → Create Manually.
Section 1: Template Metadata
The template begins with Template Metadata, where users define the Template Name, Disease Category, Program Type, Conditions, Effective Date, Owner, Visibility, and Description. Disease categories, program types, and conditions can be selected from searchable multi-select lists.
Users can also specify whether time spent using the template should be added toward patient care time. After completing the metadata, the template can be built through additional sections for SMART Goals, Preventive Services, Intervention/Activities, Assessments & Observations, Education & Self-management, and Preview & Publish.
The template can be saved as a draft during creation and progressed through each step using Next. Once completed, it can be reviewed and published for use in applicable patient Care Plans.
Section 2: SMART Goals
The SMART Goals section is used to define measurable, time-bound goals that will be included in the Care Plan template. From this step, users can click the + (Add) button to create one or more goals.
When creating a goal, the user can provide:
Goal Title – Enter the name of the goal.
Category – Select the applicable category, such as Dietary, Safety, Behavioral, Independence, Housing, Legal, or Nursing.
Lifecycle Status – Define the current status of the goal, such as Proposed, Planned, Accepted, Active, On Hold, Completed, or Cancelled.
Frequency – Specify how often the goal should be addressed, such as One time, Daily, Weekly, Bi Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, or Half yearly.
Target Value & Unit – Define a measurable target and select an appropriate unit, such as mmHg, bpm, mg/dL, mmol/L, lbs, or kg.
Due In – Specify the number of days within which the goal should be achieved.
Measurable Outcome – Describe how achievement of the goal will be measured.
Description – Add additional details or context for the goal.
After entering the required information, click Save to add the goal to the template. Multiple SMART Goals can be added as needed. Users can also Save Draft and continue later or click Next to proceed to the next section of the Care Plan template.
Section 3: Preventative Services
The Preventive Services section allows users to add preventive services relevant to the diagnosis and define how they should be managed within the Care Plan template.
Users can:
Add a Preventive Service by clicking the + button and selecting a service from the searchable list, such as annual wellness visits, vaccines, or cancer screenings.
Set the Frequency for the preventive service, such as annually, every 10 years, per CDC guidelines, or another applicable schedule.
Choose whether to Create a Patient Task, Create a Care Team Task, or both.
For Patient Tasks, specify the task category, frequency, and description.
For Care Team Tasks, specify the task category, frequency, and description.
Save the preventive service and add multiple services to the template.
Use Save Draft to save progress or Next to proceed to the Intervention/Activities section.
Section 4: Intervention/Activities
The Intervention/Activities section allows users to add and configure activities that will be included in the Care Plan template.
Users can:
Click the + button to create a new activity.
Enter the Activity Title and select an Activity Type, such as Referral or Education.
Set the activity Status, Frequency, and Duration (minutes).
Add detailed Instructions for completing the activity.
Link the activity to one or more SMART Goals defined earlier in the template.
Upload supporting Education Assets using the Browse option.
Click Save to add the activity to the template.
Use Save Draft to save progress or Next to proceed to Assessments & Observations.
Section 5: Assessments & Observations
The Assessments & Observations section allows users to define the patient data and clinical assessments that should be monitored as part of the Care Plan.
Users can:
Add Observations to Track by selecting a vital such as Blood Pressure, Pulse, Weight, SpO2, or Glucose.
Define the unit, monitoring frequency (e.g., once, twice, or three times a day), and capture method (Automatic or Manual).
Add Patient-Reported Outcomes by selecting standardized assessments such as PHQ-2, PHQ-9, AUDIT, GDS, or GAD-2.
Select how patient-reported outcomes are captured, such as Email, SMS, or Both.
Use the green check icon to add/confirm each observation or assessment.
Click Save Draft to save progress or Next to proceed to Education & Self-management.
Section 6: Education & Self-management
The Education & Self-Management section allows users to add patient education resources and self-management activities to the Care Plan template.
Education: Add an education item with a required title and link, with an option to upload a supporting file.
Self-Management: Create activities with a title, activity type, default status, frequency, instructions, and the ability to link the activity to one or more SMART Goals.
Self-management activities can have statuses such as Not Started, Scheduled, In Progress, On Hold, Completed, Cancelled, or Stopped.
Multiple education and self-management items can be added using the + button.
Users can Save Draft or proceed to Preview & Publish using Next.
Section 7: Review & Publish
The Preview & Publish section provides a final review of the Care Plan template before it is made available for use. It displays key template details, including:
Template Name
Disease Categories
Program Types
Applicable Conditions
Effective Date
Template Owner
Visibility
Care Time
Version availability information
Users can Save Draft to retain the template for later editing or select Publish to make the template available. Publishing requires confirmation through a “Are you sure you want to publish this template?” confirmation dialog before the template is published.
Naming Templates
Use clear, descriptive names to help care coordinators quickly identify the appropriate template. Examples include:
Diabetes Management
Hypertension Care Plan
Chronic Care Management
Remote Patient Monitoring
Congestive Heart Failure
COPD Management
Annual Wellness Visit
Post-Discharge Follow-Up
Consistent naming conventions improve usability, especially in organizations with multiple templates.
Editing an Existing Template
Templates should be periodically reviewed to ensure they reflect current clinical guidelines and organizational workflows. To update a template:
Open Care Plan Templates.
Select the desired template.
Click Edit.
Update the necessary sections.
Save the changes.
Changes apply only to Care Plans created after the template has been updated. Existing patient Care Plans remain unchanged.
Copying a Template
If a new template is similar to an existing one, administrators can duplicate the existing template and make the necessary modifications.
This approach reduces setup time while maintaining consistency across related programs. For example:
Copy a Diabetes Management template to create a Diabetes + Hypertension template.
Duplicate a general CCM template to create program-specific variations.
Deactivating a Template
Templates that are no longer required can be deactivated to prevent new Care Plans from being created using outdated clinical content. Deactivating a template:
Removes it from the template selection list.
Does not affect existing Care Plans created from the template.
Preserves historical records for audit purposes.
Template Components
Assessments
Templates may include commonly used assessment questionnaires for the selected program. Examples include:
Depression screening
Functional assessments
Fall risk assessments
Behavioral health assessments
Preventive Services
Organizations can include standard preventive recommendations, such as:
Annual Wellness Visits
Vaccinations
Cancer screenings
Diabetic foot examinations
Eye examinations
SMART Goals
Templates often include condition-specific goals. Examples:
Maintain blood pressure below target range.
Improve medication adherence.
Achieve weight reduction goals.
Improve blood glucose control.
Interventions
Templates may contain standardized interventions such as:
Monthly medication review
Nutrition education
RPM monitoring
Specialist referrals
Lifestyle counseling
Self-Management
Templates can include patient activities such as:
Daily blood pressure monitoring
Daily blood glucose checks
Medication adherence
Exercise recommendations
Dietary modifications
Patient Education
Educational topics may include:
Disease-specific education
Medication safety
Nutrition
Exercise
Smoking cessation
Symptom recognition
When to contact the provider
Benefits of Using Templates
Using Care Plan Templates provides several operational and clinical benefits.
Increased Efficiency
Care coordinators spend less time creating repetitive documentation.
Standardized Care
Templates help ensure patients with similar conditions receive consistent evidence-based care recommendations.
Improved Documentation Quality
Predefined content reduces omissions and promotes complete documentation.
Faster Patient Onboarding
Care Plans can be generated more quickly for newly enrolled patients.
Organizational Consistency
Templates promote consistent workflows across multiple users and locations.
Best Practices
Review every imported section before saving the Care Plan.
Customize goals and interventions to the patient's specific needs.
Remove template content that is not clinically relevant.
Periodically review templates to ensure they reflect current clinical guidelines.
Use standardized naming conventions.
Limit the number of templates to avoid confusion.
Involve physicians and clinical leadership when creating or updating templates.
Common Scenarios
Creating a Diabetes Care Plan
A patient newly enrolled in Chronic Care Management has Type 2 Diabetes.
Recommended Workflow
Select the Diabetes Management template.
Review the imported assessments and preventive services.
Customize SMART Goals based on the patient's A1C and treatment plan.
Update interventions to reflect current medications and lifestyle recommendations.
Save the Care Plan and proceed with review.
Creating a Hypertension Care Plan
A patient enrolled in Remote Patient Monitoring has uncontrolled hypertension.
Recommended Workflow
Select the Hypertension template.
Review the automatically populated blood pressure goals.
Update interventions based on recent RPM readings.
Modify self-management tasks as needed.
Finalize and submit the Care Plan for review.
Updating Clinical Guidelines
Your organization adopts new evidence-based recommendations for hypertension management.
Recommended Workflow
Edit the Hypertension template.
Update goals, interventions, and patient education.
Save the revised template.
All newly created Care Plans will use the updated template, while existing Care Plans remain unchanged.
Troubleshooting
I cannot see any templates.
Verify that templates have been configured for your organization and that your user role has permission to access them.
Can I modify a Care Plan after applying a template?
Yes. All content imported from a template can be edited before or after the Care Plan is saved, depending on your permissions and workflow.
Will editing a patient's Care Plan update the template?
No. Changes made to an individual patient's Care Plan do not affect the original template.
What happens if a template is updated?
Only Care Plans created after the update will use the revised template. Existing Care Plans retain the content that was present when they were originally created.
Can I delete a template?
Depending on your organization's configuration, templates may be deactivated rather than permanently deleted to preserve historical records and maintain auditability.