BACK TALK SYSTEMS, INC. 14998 W. 6th Avenue, Suite E-500 Golden, CO 80904-5025 800/937-3113 800/696-1165 (fax) www.backtalksystems.com Team Tip #42 PATIENT TRACKING PROCEDURES by Susan Hoy If I were to ask ten chiropractors about their biggest practice weakness, nine of them would say patient tracking. Keeping track of patients is a very difficult task, yet it is essential a successful practice. Of course, keeping track of patients is absolutely necessary if we are going to help them get well and stay well. All practices have patients who drop out of care. As a chiropractic staff, it is important that we know what to do and say when patient stop following through with their treatment plan. If you have a really good educational program you will have less patient dropout, however, inevitably some patients just choose to get relief and disappear until the next time they need help. There is another critical reason why we want to keep track of our patients. That reason is because your chiropractor can be held responsible for a patient dropping out of care and can be sued for abandonment! So, while we all want of our patients to follow through and become wellness patients for their health and the health of our practices, we also don't want to be sued! That is why your office must have specific tracking procedures (notice that I said tracking, not harassing procedures). If a patient decides to drop out of care, there is usually nothing we can do about it until he re-injures himself and comes back for care. In fact, I have noticed that creating a wellness patient usually takes several of these "come and go" experiences until he decides he would be better off to get help on a regular basis. Harassing patients when they decide to drop out will only drive them to another chiropractor when they need help again. Your practice must have tracking procedures that everyone feels comfortable with, that are designed for the benefit of the patient, not for the benefit of the bottom line. Believe me, your patients will know your motives when you contact them. Before you contact patients who might have dropped out of care, get into the correct frame of mind. They were on a treatment plan for a good reason, to get well and stay well. When you call them, you should show concern for their health and how it could be affected by their dropping out. I like to call them "concern calls", not recalls. You should use words like, "Doctor _______ was concerned and asked me to contact you regarding resuming your care." Obviously, the best plan is to make sure that new patients agree to treatment and schedule a series of appointments in advance. It is very important that your patient's information is in your book or written somewhere! Your schedule book must tell you everything and your scheduling practices are ultimately the only way you and your chiropractor can track your patients. Therefore, if your patient don't have multiple appointments, it is your job to make sure they schedule the next appointment. Here are some scheduling scripts: "Mr. James, Dr. _____ has indicated that you need two more appointments this week. I have tomorrow and Friday at 10:00, how does that sound?" Be assertive but not forceful. If Mr. James is not sure about his schedule and wants to call you back, say, "Let me just schedule for now and I'll give you an appointment card. When you get back to your office, if it doesn't suit your schedule, you can call me." If at all possible, get your patient's name in your schedule book. Otherwise, you have a potential dropout and you may not even notice. If you are not successful in getting Mr. James to schedule, place a blue dot next to his name in today's schedule. A blue dot means the patient arrived for today's appointment but did not schedule his next appointment. If Mr. James arrived for his appointment and scheduled his next appointment, put a green dot next to his name. If Mr. James missed his appointment today, he gets a red dot next to his name. All blue dots and red dots mean the patient is not in your book for another scheduled appointment. In other words, some action must be taken. If your patient is not on any treatment plan, in other words, he is basically a wellness patient, the possibility exists that he may not want to schedule another appointment at this time. There is no need to worry about the abandonment issue, however you would like the patient to be in the book. SCRIPT FOR A WELLNESS PATIENT WHO WANTS TO CALL YOU FOR HIS NEXT APPOINTMENT "Mr. James, Dr. ________ has indicated that you are a monthly patient. Let me schedule you for next month. I'll give you an appointment card so you can check your schedule. We've found that when patients don't schedule their next appointment, they lose track of time. You can call me if it doesn't work for you." If Mr. James does not want to schedule now, ask him if he would like you to call him in a month. Most patients usually love that idea. Make sure you put a blue dot next to his name. All blue dot and red dot patients must be followed up. Have a "follow-up" card at your desk. The card should tell you if the patient missed, canceled, didn't schedule, or wants to be reminded. The information requested on the card should be date, name, phone number, reason for missing or cancellation, and the result of your concern call. If a patient missed an appointment, make up a card and try to contact him twice, in order to get him to make up his appointment. If he does not call to reschedule, contact him once the next day. If there is still no resulting appointment, try to contact him the following day. At the end of that day, if he does not call to reschedule, the card and the patient's file should be placed on the doctor's desk for immediate resolution. The same procedure is true for canceled appointments. Within three days, if the patient does not reschedule an appointment, the doctor should either contact him directly or write a dismissal letter. USE A TICKLER FILE A tickler file is a reminder file. It can be any size you wish. Tickler files should be utilized at the front desk for a reminder system, in the insurance office for follow-up on collections. In fact, a tickler file should be used in every department of your office. Get "stuff" off your desk and into a file to help you stay organized! Have a tickler file for your concern cards until the patient's appointments are resolved. A small file box will be sufficient. There should be sections numbered from 1 - 31 (for the days of the month). If you have not resolved the patient's appointment for today, put the card in tomorrow's section. For instance if today is the 10th, put the card in the 11th slot. If a patient asks to be reminded next month, write a note on the card to call next month on the 11th and put in the 11th slot. In other words, if a patient's name does not appear in your appointment book, it should be on a card and filed away in your tickler file so you don't forget about the patient. At the end of every day, every patient should be accounted for in your book. They either have a green dot, a blue dot, or a red dot. The blue dots and the red dots have a card in your tickler file. The most important thing to remember when tracking your patients is that you must have their name written down somewhere, preferably in your appointment book but if not, on your concern card so they never fall through the cracks. There will be times, however, when your patient just refuses to be contacted or "booked". Those are usually the patients who WANT to fall through the cracks. You may order our new TEAM TRAINING AND PRACTICE MANAGEMENT MANUAL package, from which this article is taken, by calling 800/937-3113 today.