Massachusetts DPH: Why Can't I Enter Any City I want for a Patient?

MA DPH will only accept patients that follow their strict city listing as specified; therefore it’s important to leverage the default answer in SMART when adding new patients or updating existing patient records. The software will help you get this right to ensure a high percentage of success rates in your electronic message submissions.

When adding or updating a patient record from the Patient Information Management window, it’s best to start with the zip code. When you enter the zip code, you’ll immediately get this Warning! message:

Choose Yes; and by doing this SMART will automatically populate an approved city from the list. This is important as there are informal modifications made to city addresses all the time that can prevent a successful message such as:

• Modifying a city name by abbreviating the direction such as South Boston becoming S. Boston

• Referring to an area of a city (such as South Boston) when the accepted city address is just Boston

To review what city is assigned to a zip code, a user with Administration access can access SMART settings by going to Gears, clicking Settings and then navigating to the Other tab. In the Zip Code field, enter a zip then click Edit/Retire/Delete to see what cities and counties are associated with that code.