Home Forums Discussions Feedback and Recommendations Calling pt, no answer

I want a place that I can document when I call a pt and they don't answer. I am thinking labs and study reports.

Example: call CXR report to pt and no answer, can't sign off imported report because then I will forget to call the pt again, so I just leave it in my inbox. Call the next day, no answer, same problem. The only thing is that there is no record that I have now tried to call the pt twice and no answer, no voicemail, nothing I feel comfortable putting in the chart.

Has anyone else found a work around for this type of problem? I wish I could add a note to the imported report called this date, no answer and leave it in my inbox for a later date then maybe after 3 or so attempts would sign it off. This would stop the "I never got a call from you" complaints I hear when I know someone from the office has tried and failed to get anyone to answer the phone.

Chris... just an idea, though not a particularly elegant solution.

Open the sign-off and if there is no answer, hit "reminder". The default is the reminder is sent to yourself, on the same day (which should be fine). In the text box of the reminder, put something like "abnl CXR; NA". Send the reminder, then sign off the x ray report. (Note that the reminder automatically records the date you made the call attempt).

Now you have a reminder in your inbox to call again. The second time around, if there is again no answer, hit "forward", add "NA again" and send it to yourself.

If you don't reach the patient then you can save the record of your attempts to the chart.

If you do reach the pt you can document that and save the reminder.

I like the idea, not perfect but better than not having it documented! Thanks for the hint.

I would rather have it that when I pull a report there would be a spot where I could put the contacted attempt on the report that way all the documentation for that report is in on spot, a chain of events type of thing.

As a specialist's office, this is the method we use. Over the course of about a week, every time I make the attempt, I document the response/lack thereof, and send it back to myself. I try the patient's preferred number first and leave a message, wait a day or two, then try their preferred and secondary number the next time and leave a message on both. Wait another day or two and if that doesn't work, I call their emergency contact to make sure the patient is OK and see if they can have the patient call me. If the patient doesn't call me back based on the conversation with the EC, I document this as well. We also use texting from Updox, since not all patient's will answer their phone and it's not hard to answer a text at work; even if it's just to let me know they got my message(s). TBH, some people don't have the decency to even do that much. When I do send a text that I'm trying to reach them, I document that in the notes I've forwarded to myself by copy/pasting it from Updox; both the body of the message and the date/time. Every time I send it to myself, it has a new date/time stamp. At the end, I have a well documented list of attempts to contact the patient that I save to the chart and they can't say no one tried to reach them. At this point, I then notify the PCP and/or referring office in writing and cc them on whatever report I'm trying to reach the patient about.

I also use this method when trying to reschedule appointments cancelled with the Amazing Reminders system.

Hope this helps.

I just read these and know from my malpractice carrier that if you order an MRI of the brain and the patient doesn't do it, 8 months later has a brain tumor and you didn't followup on the referral, you can be held liable. Seems to me these efforts are fine for normal CXR, labs, EKG but if there's a significant abnormal, a letter would protect you and doesn't have to be certified according to my malpractice carrier which is run by physicians.

Yes, that's a good idea. If we have a positive result we definitely make a few extra rounds of follow up; even if that means repeating our whole contact and documentation protocol again. It can be quite frustrating to continue trying to reach a patient who isn't responding.

Yeah, but he didn't say it was positive. He said they just didn't do it. I guess the best way would be for any radiology that is for things other than pneumonias, etc. the radiology department should send you a fax just like the consultants do. The consultants go OUT OF THEIR WAY to not only notify you with a Cc to the patient but offers to still see them. You could say that radiology is too busy to send something, but it could easily fall back to scheduling who is doing nothing all day but turning down your MRIs and scheduling them out a month. Radiology gets a study set up by scheduling for a bone scan, they send a fax or a call to scheduling who calls or faxes the doctor.

One day, email will be allowed, and all this fax bullshit will go away.

But, in the end, it is up to the patient. If the patients had a brain tumor in eight months, the doctor must have told them that among other things the MRI was looking for a mass, i.e. "We are doing an MRI in case you have a brain tumor which will kill you and make you die," then the patient should kinda make that.

"The consultants go OUT OF THEIR WAY to not only notify you with a Cc to the patient but offers to still see them"


HAHAHAHA, maybe where you are but not here, a few still do send something back saying the pt never scheduled/showed up, but not a lot of the specialist still do this. It boils down to the staff in the office you are sending pt's to.