Recall - Understanding Patients Recall

Understanding Recall

Optisoft’s Recall system works by assigning Recall Categories to patients and, based on a set date, sending reminder letters at regular intervals.

Theory

When a patient is added to a recall category their Next Letter Date is calculated and their first letter is added to the recall graph.

This first letter is based directly on the recall start date, so, if the recall start date is 01/01/2007 and the first recall band is set to 12 months, then the first letter will be added to the graph at 01/01/08.

The second, and subsequent, letters are then calculated using the date on which the previous letter was printed as its basis.

In this way, if you are printing ahead or behind, the letter intervals are always based on last contact.

Example

Recall Band Interval	Start Date	Next Letter Date	Letter Printed Date
12	01/02/07	01/02/08	05/02/08
18		05/08/09	31/07/09
24		31/01/10

In the above example a patient has an examination on 01/02/07 and is assigned to a recall category. The recall system calculates their next letter to be due on 01/02/08, twelve months later.

This letter is printed four days after this due date, on 05/02/08. This becomes the new start date for use with the second band and, therefore, provides a next letter date of 05/08/09, six months later.

The second band’s letter is actually printed five days early, on 31/07/09. The system then takes this as the new start date therefore providing a next letter date of 31/01/09. This date is six months after the last contact date but only actually twenty-three months after the original start date.

Common Terms

Start Date

The Start Date is the date on which the recall categories’ intervals are based. It is typically the patient’s last examination date.

Recall Categories

The Recall Category is set of letter templates and intervals which is assigned to a patient’s record to describe how you would like to remind the patient.

Recall Category Bands

The Recall Category Bands make up the Recall Categories. Each band is a single interval and letter template. A single recall category can be made up of up to seven bands

Recall Template or Letter Template

The Recall Template is the letter into which the patients details will be merged in to. This is a Microsoft Word document that has been created through Optisoft’s Form Designer to add the mail merge information to it.

Merge Codes

The Merge Codes are special mail merge fields that are inserted into the letter template to link the patient’s database to the template for the recall system.

Recall Graph

A graphical representation of how many recall letters are due to be sent within a certain month.