Dox RDS Extension - Recalls Manager

Overview

Management of Patient Recalls is a complex process requiring discipline at all stages. Without effective automation, the process can easily fail, with severe medico-legal consequences, and be very inefficient.

Dox Recalls Manager provides safeguards and automation at every stage of the process.  The system ensures that patients needing a recall are not overlooked, and that managed communications and correspondence with both patient and referring doctor meet all medico-legal requirements.

Never miss a Recall

In the system’s setup, you will have nominated those types of episodes that are candidates for the patient to receive a future recall for follow-up care. 
Following discharge, doctors are allowed a period of grace in which to enter either a recall, indicate that further time is needed to form an opinion (such as waiting for diagnostic results), or instruct the system that no recall is required. 
Once that period of grace, or its extension, has lapsed, any candidate episode that has not had its recall status determined is highlighted in reports and in the doctor’s Clinical Desktop module.

Recalls Management

Dox Recalls becomes aware that a qualifying event such as a procedure or consultation has occurred.  The system will then create a pending recall entry in the database.  This may seem strange as not all patients will need a recall but the various types of recall status will cater for all circumstances as recalls can have a status of Active, Pending, or Inactive.

• An Active Recall has specific parameters covering the time to elapse before recalling the patient, the specific letter to be sent to the patient (optionally also to the patient's referring doctor).

• An Inactive Recall is one where there is no need to recall the patient or where a previously active recall has been changed to being inactive due to external circumstances.  Common examples include No Recall Required, Demise of Patient, Patient in another’s care, Patient has relocated, etc.

• A Pending Recall is one where the system is waiting for the recall to have its status changed to either be one of the many types of Active Recall or to be cancelled and made an Inactive Recall.  A common example would be ‘Waiting for Pathology’

Recalls correspondence

Dox Recalls Manager provides for up to four rounds of correspondence with the patient and optionally with the referring doctor.  They are all customisable both as global settings and as doctor-by-doctor overrides of the global settings.  The default is for correspondence immediately after the recall is entered and then up to three attempts to advise the patient to make an appointment for the follow-up care.  Each of those rounds of correspondence can optionally include the referring doctor.

Dox Recalls Manager provides an extraordinary degree of automation and discipline with little effort required either by the clinician or by administrative staff.  With automatic processes and faithful recording for all stages of the process from primary episode to follow-up episode, Dox Recalls Manager offers significant benefits of medico-legal certainty and administrative efficiency.

Literature on Dox RDS Recalls is available in the form of an Adobe Acrobat file here

• Dox Recalls Manager