Adding a New Condition

Last updated: October 14, 2026

Assess Condition now records new conditions. As of October 14, 2026, the Assess Condition command can document a condition that is new at this visit as well as one already on the chart, and it reuses a charted condition instead of adding a duplicate. See 📄 Assessing and Updating Conditions.

Documenting active conditions is essential for maintaining comprehensive patient records and ensuring proper clinical care. This article explains how to use the Assess Condition and Add Condition commands in Canvas Medical to record conditions, prevent duplicate entries, and create structured clinical documentation.

User's Guide

Choosing Between the Assess Condition and Add Condition Commands

Add Condition updates the patient's Conditions list. Use it to keep the list accurate when a condition was diagnosed previously and is still active, such as one from an outside record or an intake form. It records the condition only: no assessment is documented for the visit, and no diagnosis code is added to the note's billing footer.

Assess Condition documents a condition you are addressing at this visit, whether it is new or already on the chart. The condition's ICD-10 code is added to the note's billing footer as a diagnosis for the visit and the claim, and the assessment appears in the condition's history in the Patient Summary.

A quick way to decide:

  • Should this condition appear as a diagnosis on today's visit or claim?

    • Use Assess Condition.

  • Are you only updating the patient's Conditions list?

    • Use Add Condition.

  • Has a resolved condition come back?

    • Use Assess Condition and pick it from the search. It becomes active again and keeps its history in one place.

A condition recorded with Add Condition can be assessed at a later visit with Assess Condition when it is addressed.

Best Practice: Use the Assess Condition command for both new and existing conditions. Its search lists the patient's charted conditions first and reuses them, so the Conditions list stays free of duplicates.

Adding a Condition Without Assessing It

The Add Condition command records a coded (ICD-10) condition on the patient's Conditions list as active, without opening an assessment for it. Use it when a condition was diagnosed previously and is still active, such as one carried over from an outside record or an intake form, where there is nothing to assess at today's visit.

To add a previously diagnosed condition:

  1. Open the patient's chart

  2. Add the Add Condition command to a new or existing note. It is in the note's History section.

  3. Complete the command fields. The only required field is the condition.

    • Condition: Search for the condition using free text or ICD-10 code. This is the same picker the Diagnose command uses.

    • Background: Provide history of the condition

    • Approximate Date of Onset: Indicate when the condition began (e.g., "last week," "3 years ago," "2015")

    • Comments: Additional notes pertaining to the condition (up to 1000 characters)

  4. Click Record to add the condition. It appears in the patient summary as an active entry.

Key points:

  • No assessment is opened for the condition, and the visit is not documented as having assessed it

  • If the condition is already on the patient's Conditions list, Canvas displays: "This condition is already on the patient's conditions list."

  • Once the condition has been assessed, the Add Condition command can no longer be entered in error, because doing so would remove the condition the assessment describes

Configuration & Set Up

No special configuration is required. The Assess and Add Condition commands are available by default in all patient charts.

FAQ & Troubleshooting

Q: Should I use Assess Condition, Add Condition, or Past Medical History?

A: It depends on whether the condition is active now, and whether you are assessing it.

  • Assess Condition: you are assessing the condition at today's visit, whether it is new or already on the chart

  • Add Condition: the condition was diagnosed previously and is still active

  • Past Medical History: you are backfilling a condition the patient had in the past that is not active now

Q: How can I add a diagnosis/ICD-10 code that's not in the system?

A: Diagnosis codes cannot be added manually. Canvas updates ICD-10 codes in accordance with CMS on April 1 and October 1 every year.

Q: What if I enter the wrong diagnosis?

A: Use the Change Diagnosis command to update the condition while preserving historical data. If historical data is not needed, enter the diagnose command in error and enter new.

Related Resources

Keywords: diagnose command, assess condition, add condition command, new diagnosis, ICD-10, clinical documentation, patient conditions, duplicate diagnosis, active conditions

Categories: Clinical Documentation, Condition Management