Dentrix Ideas

Completing appointment without Clinical Note

We should NOT be able to "gray out" or complete the appointment on Appointment Book View if 1) insurance has not been batched for the day and 2) if No clinical note was signed.
  • Guest
  • Jul 9 2019
  • Future consideration
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  • Margret Quimby commented
    May 10, 2023 12:05

    That wouldn't work for us. Our clinical team sets the appt complete, which posts the automatic clinical note and procedure to the ledger. We set complete in real time and batch insurance at end of day or next morning.

  • Guest commented
    February 28, 2022 20:46

    I don't need it to be tied to setting the appt complete, just add a list in office manager, similar to "procedures not attached to insurance" where we could create a list of "appts set complete without a clinical note"

  • Guest commented
    October 11, 2021 15:03

    Better option is to require a sign off on clinical notes and track that way. The gray out is used to indicate the charges have been placed. These to tasks need 2 separate indicators but I agree there needs to be a way to check for clinical note completion and sign off.

  • Guest commented
    July 09, 2019 04:15
    May I ask what would be your reasoning for this? Thanks! : )
  • Guest commented
    July 09, 2019 04:15
    @Anonymous sometimes clinical notes are not signed off, completed, or worst, not even put in. It could be days/weeks/months until it's caught. By not being able to complete the appointment, it forces everyone to complete their tasks. I feel a lot of the time, people like to see the gray appointments to determine their day but it should be the other way - people need to complete their tasks to determine if the appointment is fully completed.
  • Guest commented
    July 09, 2019 04:15
    I definitely think that this is very important. At this end of the day, I want to be able to know which charts are signed off and which at not at a glance. However, I think that changing the meaning of the "graying out" function with lead to some complications the front desk communication but it would be awesome if there was an icon that showed up or small scree that popped up with a list of patients that do not have write ups signed off. It would be even better of this list has clickable links that would take me straight to the patient in question's chart.
  • james clayton commented
    July 09, 2019 04:15
    I definitely think this or some formation of this would be fantastic!! It would force our providers to complete their clinical notes in a timely fashion!!! I like Dr. Patel's suggestion of an icon showing up with a list of unsigned, uncompleted clinical notes.
  • Guest commented
    July 09, 2019 04:15
    Just set complete from the ledger or from the patient chart without graying out the appointment box. Once the note is done, then you can change the appointment status to complete AND you wont get in the way of front desk walk outs. Or use the status bar as a reminder, make red status bar mean clinical notes not completed and purple mean ins not batched. Just a suggestion.
  • Susie Nosbusch commented
    July 09, 2019 04:15
    We use an appointment status to indicate that the patient still needs the charting completed but we still complete the procedures before we change it to HOT PINK "NEEDS".
  • Guest commented
    July 09, 2019 04:15
    the appointment status should default to "Notes" once the procedures are set to complete but the clinical notes have not yet been signed
  • Guest commented
    July 09, 2019 04:15
    Not every practice uses insurance batches (as a fee-for-service office, we submit electronically in real-time after the appointment has been completed - which is how we move procedures from the treatment plan to the completed ledger), but I can appreciate that there should be some sort of optional validation so that each practice can adjust parameters based upon their individual standard procedures.
  • Guest commented
    July 09, 2019 04:15
    NO! Our clinical staff closes out the patient appointment from the chair. Our front office handles all insurance. This would be a disaster for us if the appointment could not be closed out.
  • Guest commented
    July 09, 2019 04:15
    I've decided to make an appointment status to change to grey that the patient has checked out and ledger completed. The clinical staff would be responsible to grey out the appointment upon clinical note completion. It's working great! :)
  • Guest commented
    July 09, 2019 04:15
    This is good except for those checking out patients at front - we print insurance right away and walkout. If procedure isn't completed you can't do this.
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