For a master patient, is it always required to slide the master patient back to today, apply changes, and slide it forward to the same future date?

• A. Yes
• B. No
• C. Sometimes
• D. Only for time-sensitive changes

Answer: (B)

In master patient data, changes are governed by when they are effective. You don’t have to move the master patient back to today and then forward to the same future date for every update. Instead, apply changes with the appropriate effective date from the start. If the change should take effect now, set the effective date to today. If it should begin in the future, use that future date. Some updates may require creating a new version to reflect a historical or future window, but that’s not a universal requirement. So, no—it's not always necessary to slide back to today and forward again.