Vinny,
Here is an old one that needs to be reconsidered. As a PCP yourself, as you well know we get many people who call or are assigned to us by an HMO or what have you, but who never actually establish with a proper first visit. But none the less, many of these "potential new patients" are still possible liability issues that we need to chart and track their phone and mailed interactions with us. Things like always re-sceduling and no showing, papers and ER visits sent to our office even though we haven't a clue who this patient really is.
What we have requested is to have AC have a sort of divided data base with TWO separate sets of chart numbers as well as all other data. This way when a new patient calls and we book them an appointment or start them a chart, they are a temp chart number, not a regular est'ed chart number. So like TP123. Then if and when this patient does have a real estlishing visit, then we can hit a botton on the demographics page and make them part of the regular patient database. AT THAT TIME, then AC can assign them their in proper sequence, regular patient chart number AC456 or what have you. Right now we have an extra false patient, named "New Patient" and we use him for our new patient slots as a place holder. We enter the real patients Name in the comments area so we know who should be in there, and then when they show up and complete our intake, then we remove that temporary place holder and then put the real patient in their proper place on the schedule, so that all visits are properly associated with that person.
But in this way that I suggest, we can have two sets of data going so that these never establised patients can be tracked in and of themselves, and their squewed data is not messing up all of our regular charts and data. I know that there are many practices like us who are NOT starting people charts if and until they actually establish for just such reasons. But we need to document their behavior with us for all sorts of reasons and purposes. And we can still start and record things for these never establised people to document what we have done with or for them, their history of no-shows or what have you. Very Important.
