| Patient recall management is an essential task for | | | | moved to distant locations. Recall notification may |
| healthcare practices. When effectively implemented, | | | | also be blocked for patients who have transferred |
| patient recall provides timely notification that is | | | | their care to another healthcare service provider. |
| beneficial to the well-being of your patients. Timely | | | | 5) Make your recall informative. Always include |
| notification by healthcare providers also means that | | | | contact information for your office. This includes your |
| you care about the welfare of your patients. | | | | telephone number and address. |
| In order for patient recall to be properly implemented | | | | Recall notification by postcard reminder systems are |
| through an effective appointment management | | | | rapidly becoming superceded by free advanced online |
| system, the following principles apply: | | | | appointment systems that includes automated |
| 1) Perform recall notification on a regular basis that | | | | telephone calling and email reminders. Email is the |
| is approriate for your speciality. For many practices, | | | | most practical method of recall notification because |
| this means sending out recall notification on a monthly | | | | email addresses are usually stable over extended |
| basis. | | | | periods of time. A significant number of your patients |
| 2) Maintain a recall record for reference. | | | | will move to different locations over time but maintain |
| Documentation can be important for medical-legal | | | | their email address. |
| reasons. | | | | Healthcare providers seeking a recall system should |
| 3) Fine tune your recall. For example, you may wish | | | | consider a computerized system that fulfills a checklist |
| to send recall to patients with a specific diagnosis at | | | | that includes the attributes described in this article. |
| regular intervals. | | | | Implementing a free and effective patient |
| 4) Capability to block individual patients. For | | | | recall management system will serve your practice |
| example, it is appropriate to block recall notification to | | | | for many years. |
| patients who are no longer living or patients who have | | | | |