Features of Appointment Workflow

Marketing Consent

From v12.10 the Appointment Workflow includes a task (at both patient arrival and patient departure) for Receptionists to secure Marketing Consent from patients:

Triggers and constraints by role enforce a standard procedure

The Appointment Workflow depends on specific sequential actions from both Receptionists and Providers.

The Receptionist must accept the patient into the workflow so that EXACT knows that the patient is being processed, and can then make possible further Appointment Workflow functions.

The patient can only be moved to the chair by the Provider to whom that patient has been assigned in the appointment book. This ensures that the patient only comes to the chair when that Provider is ready.

The Provider must move the patient to the chair (in the software), so that EXACT understands the patient has left Reception and is with the Provider, and then makes possible the software functions such as Charging and Move to Departure.

The entire appointment workflow can be managed by one Practitioner

Prior to EXACT v12.2 the appointment workflow tasks were differentiated by roles of Receptionist and Provider, based on Login, and no single role could manage all appointment workflow functions.

A single Provider can conduct all tasks, which empowers single-practitioner practices:

The Provider advances patients through the workflow by reconfiguring the appointment double-click and by manually resetting patient status in the appointment workflow, as explained below...

Arrivals Task List

The Receptionist is presented with a comprehensive electronic list of tasks per arriving patient:

Departure Task List on the Main screen

A Departures task list integrates with appointment books, and lists the tasks for the Receptionist to complete during a patient's departure.

For example, here the Receptionist is viewing a task to issue a brochure:

Optionally hide the Departure Task List per User

Clinicians or other users who have no need to view the Departure Task List in their view of the Main (Appointment) book can opt to disable this sidebar based on their User Settings.

(See Disabling the Departure Task List for a User)

Integration with Clinipad

Clinipad functionality integrates seamlessly into the appointment workflow, providing an electronic means of capturing data and signatures, by both practitioners and patients.

Manually reset the patient's status in the appointment workflow

It is possible to manually reset or change a patient's appointment workflow status to either

• Booked (not yet in the workflow)
• Arrived (has been processed through reception and is now awaiting clinical treatment)
• In the Chair (being treated in the Clinic - only the assigned Provider can change the patient to this status)
• Complete (has been treated and is now in reception being processed through departure)
• Checked Out (completed the workflow)

See Resetting and Editing Appointment Status

Providers have three ways to "Move Patient to Chair"

1. Configure the appointment double-click action in User Settings.

   Configure > User Settings: Double Click on Appointment.

   

2. Right-click the appointment in the diary and select Move to Chair from the right-click menu.
3. (Conventional) Double-click the Arrivals Door icon.

Easy to vary the aggressiveness of the patient resell and retention strategy

The Appointment Workflow is configurable across various parameters, so a practice can vary the aggressiveness of its patient resell and retention strategy.

Automated prompts

For each stage of the workflow, automated prompts ensure that personnel do not overlook Appointment Workflow tasks. For example,

• During charting, when they create patient treatments, Providers are prompted to set appointment requirements.
• During patient departure, Receptionists are prompted to actually schedule these appointment requirements.

Workflow auditing

All prompted tasks are audited against user names. For example, if a Dentist fails to set an appointment requirement when prompted to do so, it will be recorded as a workflow failure against that Dentist's name.

Workflow reporting

The Appointment Workflow Compliance Report provides valuable analysis of Appointment Workflow success, and identifies instances where there was a failure to complete the Appointment Workflow. The report can be scheduled, exported to .CSV format, and it can be set as a favourite for quick access.

Custom tasks

Custom tasks can be configured for the Departure tasklist. For example,

• Issue patient with practice services brochure.
• Check if patient is registered with the practice website.