Baselines in care plans

What a baseline is

A baseline is a patient-specific reference range: the low and high values that are normal for this patient, as opposed to the population-level reference ranges that drive alerts. It gives you a quick way to see whether a patient is drifting from where they started.

• Reference ranges say what is normal for the population and trigger alerts.
• Goals are free-text targets.
• Baselines say where this patient started and let you read every reading against that.

A baseline does not affect alert thresholds. Alerts stay governed by the care plan's reference ranges.

Typical sources for a baseline value are a chart review, a discharge summary, a recent clinic visit, or the patient's first week of readings.

Setting baselines on a care plan template

Set baselines on a template when every patient on a program should start with the same reference range. Clinical admins can do this; the template editor is not available to other clinician roles.

1. Open Admin > Care plan templates and edit the template (or create a new one).
2. In the Baseline section, click + Baseline.
3. Pick the vital, enter a low and a high value, and click Save. For blood pressure, enter a systolic range and a diastolic range in the same dialog.
4. Repeat for each vital. A vital that already has a baseline is no longer offered in the picker.

Template baselines have no effective date; the date is set when the template is applied. The template list shows how many baselines each template holds ("Baseline (2)"), and copying a template copies its baselines.

GLOBAL templates provided by CareSimple are read-only. Copy one to your organization to edit its baselines.

Setting a baseline on a patient's care plan

Any clinician can set, edit or delete a baseline directly on a patient's care plan. This is the only place a patient's baseline is edited.

1. Open the patient chart and go to the Care Plan tab.
2. In the Baseline section, click + Baseline to add one, or open the ⋮ menu on an existing card and choose Edit or Delete.
3. Pick the vital, enter the low and high values, and choose an effective date (today or earlier; future dates cannot be selected).
4. Click Save.

Each baseline card shows the range, the unit, the effective date and who set it, for example "150–180 lb · Oct 23, 2026 · A. Rivera, RN". A baseline applied from a template shows the date it was applied; one applied automatically at onboarding shows "Care plan (automatic)" as the author.

Values are entered in your preferred unit and must fall within the plausible range for that vital (for example, systolic 50–340 mm Hg). High must be greater than or equal to low. To set a single target value rather than a range, enter the same number as low and high.

Baselines are read-only for archived patients.

Reading baselines on the patient chart

Once a patient has a baseline, the Vitals tab shows it in three places.

Graph band. The trend graph draws the baseline as a shaded band between the low and the high, labelled with the range (for example "Baseline 150–180"). The band is always drawn, whatever date range you select, and it looks different from the green reference-range band. Blood pressure draws two bands, one for systolic and one for diastolic. Each vital on the graph draws its own band, even when several vitals are shown together. "Baseline range" appears in the legend.

Statistics table. Under the graph, two columns are added when a vital has a baseline: Baseline (the range) and In baseline (the share of readings in the visible period that fall within the range, ends included). Both are computed over the readings currently shown on the chart, so zooming or changing the period updates them.

Hover on a reading. In the Vitals table, hovering a reading shows a VS. BASELINE tooltip with the range and how far the reading sits outside it, for example "Systolic 118–130 +6 above · Diastolic 74–82 In range". The offset is measured from the nearest edge of the range: above the high or below the low. Readings are always compared to the patient's current baseline, including readings taken before its effective date.

Vitals without a baseline show no band, no extra columns and no tooltip.

Clinical Log

Every change to a patient's baseline writes an entry in the Clinical Log, so there is always a record of who changed it and when. The entry reads "Baseline on {vital} : Added / Updated / Deleted", in the same format as reference-range changes.

A template apply writes one entry listing every vital whose baseline changed. Vitals whose range was already identical are not listed. The entry records the action only; the values are kept in the baseline card and its history.

Rules to know

• One baseline per vital per patient. However many care plans or templates a patient has, each vital holds one baseline.
• The latest template apply wins. Applying or re-applying a template, including bulk apply, replaces the patient's baseline for every vital the template defines, including a value a clinician set by hand. Vitals the template does not define are left alone.
• Blood pressure is one baseline with a systolic range and a diastolic range, set and shown together.
• Baselines never raise alerts. A reading outside the baseline raises no alert; alert thresholds stay governed by the reference ranges.
• Units follow your preference. Values are stored in a standard unit and shown in your preferred unit. Switching your unit preference converts the display only.
• CCM-only patients have no baselines. Patients whose only program is Chronic Care Management see no Baseline section, receive no baselines from a template, and lose any existing baselines if they move to CCM-only.
• Eligible vitals: blood pressure, glucose (all meal timings), weight, dry weight, BMI, height, waist, body fat, body temperature, pulse, post-exercise pulse, SpO2, active SpO2, respiratory rate, post-exercise respiratory rate, spirometry (FEV1, FEV1/FVC ratio, inspiratory capacity), A1C, steps, active minutes and total sleep (in hours).

FAQ

I set a baseline by hand and it changed. Why? A care plan template was applied to the patient after your edit, and the template defines a baseline for that vital. The latest apply always wins. Check the Clinical Log for the "Baseline on … : Updated" entry and re-enter your value if needed.

I applied a template but the baseline isn't showing. Baselines are written a moment after the rest of the template. Reload the Care Plan tab. If it still doesn't appear, the patient may be CCM-only, or the template's baseline for that vital may be identical to the one already set.

Can I set a single value instead of a range? Yes. Enter the same number as low and high.

Does the baseline change my alerts? No. Alerts are governed by reference ranges only. To be alerted on change from baseline, use the change-from-baseline smart event condition (see the Smart events help page).

Can the patient see their baseline in the app? Not at this time. Baselines appear on the clinical portal only, and are not included in the patient summary report sent to the EHR.

Can I back-date a baseline? Yes. The effective date can be today or any earlier date, in your organization's time zone. It cannot be in the future.

Can CareSimple set baselines up for all my patients? Yes. Email help@caresimple.com and we will configure baselines on your care plan templates and apply them across your patient population.