When should I pull forward?
Pull Forward works best when today's visit builds on a previous one. For example:
Follow-up visits: the HPI, assessment and plan from last time give CarePilot useful context for today.
Chronic condition management: ongoing problems, medications and plans carry over from visit to visit.
Post-procedure or post-injection visits: prior findings and the plan you documented are relevant to today's exam.
Your first CarePilot visit with an established patient: you can start from their most recent athenaOne note (see Where does the pulled-forward information come from? below).
You can skip Pull Forward when:
The patient is new, or today's visit has nothing to do with the last one.
You only want today's note to reflect today's conversation.
Tip: Pull forward before you start recording. That way the prior information is in place as context when CarePilot generates today's note.
How to pull forward
There are two ways to pull forward. Which one you use depends on which visit you want to pull from and how much of it you want.
I want to… | Use |
Bring in the most recent note quickly | The purple Pull from button |
Pick a different visit (for example, from 2 or 3 visits ago) | The + icons, then the + in that visit's box |
Bring in only certain sections from any recent visit | The + icons, then the + next to each section you want |
Option 1: Pull forward the most recent note (the purple Pull from button)
Open the patient's encounter in Charting Canvas.
Click the purple Pull from button in the toolbar.
CarePilot fills each matching section of today's note with the content from the patient's most recent visit.
Review the pulled-forward text. Edit or delete anything that doesn't apply to today.
Option 2: Choose a visit, or pull section by section (the + icons)
The + icons next to HPI, Review of Systems, Physical Exam, and Assessment & Plan open a list of the patient's recent encounters. From that list, you can pull from any visit, not just the most recent one, and you can bring in the whole note or only the sections you need.
Open the patient's encounter in Charting Canvas.
Click the + next to any section header.
A panel opens with the patient's recent encounters. Each visit appears in its own box with the name of the provider who saw the patient on the left side.
Find the visit you want to pull from. It can be the most recent visit, or one from 2 or 3 visits ago.
Choose how much to bring in:
The whole note: click the + in the box with the provider's name. All sections from that visit go into today's note.
Only certain sections: click the + next to each section you want from that visit (HPI, Review of Systems, Physical Exam, or Assessment & Plan). Only those sections come over.
Review the pulled-forward text. Edit or delete anything that doesn't apply to today.
Example: At today's follow-up, the last visit was a quick medication check, but the full workup was done two visits ago by Dr. Smith. Click the + next to HPI, find Dr. Smith's visit in the list, and pull in just the HPI and Physical Exam from that visit. Then pull the Assessment & Plan from the most recent visit.
Tip: You can mix and match. Each section can come from a different previous visit.
Where does the pulled-forward information come from?
CarePilot uses the following logic to choose the source:
Situation | What gets pulled forward |
You've seen this patient in CarePilot before | The note from the previous CarePilot encounter |
You haven't seen this patient in CarePilot yet | The patient's most recent athenaOne note |
Important: edits made in athenaOne don't carry back to CarePilot
When you pull forward a previous CarePilot encounter, you get the note as it was in CarePilot when you sent it to athenaOne. Changes you made later, directly in athenaOne, will not appear in the pulled-forward note.
This is the most common reason a pulled-forward note "doesn't match" what's in the chart.
How to avoid it: make your final edits in CarePilot before you click Push to athenaHealth. If you do change something in athenaOne afterward, copy that change into the next CarePilot note yourself.
What happens after I pull forward?
Pulled-forward content is treated as context, not as something discussed today. When you record, CarePilot combines:
The pulled-forward and pre-charted content in each section,
Today's recording or dictation, and
Your templates, reference examples and rules
and generates today's note from all three. The prior note helps CarePilot frame today's documentation (for example, by carrying forward history and continuing the plan). Today's conversation determines what's new, what changed and what was done at this visit.
A few things to keep in mind:
Pre-charted content isn't overwritten. Charting Canvas adds to what's already in a section instead of replacing it.
Remove what's outdated. If a pulled-forward finding or plan item no longer applies (a resolved problem, a stopped medication), delete it before you record. Otherwise CarePilot may carry it over as context.
Today's recording needs substance. If the recording is very short or doesn't cover a section, that section will lean heavily on the pulled-forward content. Check it carefully.
You're always the final reviewer. Read every section before you push to athenaOne.
Troubleshooting
"My new note looks just like the last one." The recording may not have had enough new detail for that section, so CarePilot relied on the pulled-forward content. Add a short dictation that covers what's different today, then regenerate the note. You can also edit the section by hand.
"The pulled-forward note doesn't match what's in athenaOne." The note was probably edited in athenaOne after it was sent from CarePilot. See Important: edits made in athenaOne don't carry back to CarePilot above.
"I can't pull forward from athenaOne." CarePilot pulls the athenaOne note only if you haven't seen this patient in CarePilot before. Once you've seen them in CarePilot, Pull Forward uses the previous CarePilot encounter.
"I don't see the Pull from button or the + icons."
Check that Charting Canvas is turned on: Settings → Profile Preferences.
Some organizations use organization-level attestation settings that limit Pull Forward. Contact your practice admin or CarePilot Support.
Older encounters may be unavailable because of data retention policies.
"I want a note from an older visit, not the most recent one." Click the + next to any section header instead of the Pull from button. Find the visit you want in the recent encounters list (look for the provider's name on the left side). Then click the + in that box for the whole note, or the + next to each section you want.
"I only wanted one section, but the whole note came in." The + in the box with the provider's name brings in the whole note. To bring in only some sections, click the + next to each section inside that visit instead.
"Nothing was pulled into today's note." Make sure you clicked Pull from or a section's + before you recorded. Pulled-forward content isn't added automatically.
Quick checklist
Before you record:
Pulled forward: Pull from for the most recent note, or + to choose a visit or specific sections
Confirmed each section came from the visit and provider you intended
Reviewed the pulled-forward text and removed anything outdated
Before you push to athenaOne:
Reviewed every section of the generated note
Made all final edits in CarePilot, not afterward in athenaOne
Still have questions? Contact CarePilot Support or your Customer Success Manager.