> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.elationhealth.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# 2026-10-16

This release adds two columns to `patient_insurance`: the date a policy's coverage starts and the date it ends, as entered on the chart. Both are additive under [Change Management](https://help.elationhealth.com/articles/hdb/change-management.md), so existing queries are unaffected.

## Schema Changes

| Table | Column | Change |
| - | - | - |
| patient\_insurance | `coverage_start` | New - the Effective Date entered on the policy |
| patient\_insurance | `coverage_end` | New - the End Date entered on the policy |

***

## Release Highlights

**Coverage dates on patient insurance**

`coverage_start` and `coverage_end` carry the **Effective Date** and **End Date** fields from the insurance record on the chart (see [Insurance Management](https://help.elationhealth.com/articles/Patient-Demographics-Insurance-Management.md)). Use them to match each visit or bill to the policy that was in effect on the date of service:

```sql theme={null}
select i.patient_id, i.rank, i.carrier, i.coverage_start, i.coverage_end
from patient_insurance i
where i.coverage_start <= '2026-06-30'
  and (i.coverage_end is null or i.coverage_end >= '2026-06-30')
order by i.patient_id, i.rank
```

Include historical policies, those with `is_deleted = true`, when matching older dates of service. A policy that has since been replaced moves to the chart's Historical Insurance Records section, but it may have been the coverage in effect at the time.

**What to check on your side:**

* Many policies have neither date, because the dates were never entered on the chart. A null `coverage_end` usually means no end date was entered, not that coverage is known to be ongoing. Check how complete the dates are for your practices before relying on them.
* If your practices use Elation Billing, [Patient Insurance Eligibility](https://help.elationhealth.com/articles/hdb/patient-insurance-eligibility.md) also carries a coverage window for each policy, usually more completely.

A new [Patient Insurance](https://help.elationhealth.com/articles/hdb/patient-insurance.md) article covers historical policies, rank, and example queries, including one that measures coverage date completeness by practice.

The new columns are described in the [Hosted Database schema](https://help.elationhealth.com/articles/hdb/schema.md).

*If you have any questions about this topic please reach out to [Elation Support Portal](https://help.elationhealth.com/articles/support-portal-introduction.md) with the subject line HDB - \<your\_question>*