How Items Become Listed on the Audit Trail Report
An item will be listed on the Audit Trail Report for one of three reasons:

• Deleted - If a procedure is deleted, that procedure will be listed on the report. The listed item on the report is how the procedure appeared before it was deleted.
• Modified - If you modify a procedure, that item will be listed on the report. The item on the report is how the procedure appeared before it was modified.
• Back Dated - What is meant  by “back dating” is the posting of a procedure with a different date than what appears on the Main Menu. Therefore “forward dating into the future” would also cause the procedure to list on the report.

NOTE - For deleted and modified items, the “Posted” date represents the date of original posting and the “Action” date is the date it was deleted or edited.  This does not exactly apply for procedures that were posted with an alternate date.  In these cases Posted is the date that was on the Main Menu at the moment of posting and Action is the back-dated date (or forward-dated date).  For example, if the date on your Main Menu is 11/17/2000 and you override this date in the Charge Entry screen and post it as 6/11/2000 then the Audit Trail Report will show this item with a Posted date of  11/17/2000 and the Action date as 6/11/2000.

How the Audit Trail Report Protects the Practice
The Audit Trail Report protects the practice in several ways. They are:

• Unauthorized Deletions - No procedure can be deleted without appearing on the Audit Trail Report.  It appears as it was, before the deletion.
• Unauthorized Edits - Whenever a previously recorded procedure is modified in any way, that item will appear on the Audit Trail Report. It appears as it was, before the modification.
• Back Dating or Forward Dating - This can be a more difficult problem, especially at first glance. See the special NOTE above concerning the ramifications of the Set Posting Date Password.