To define and direct the documentation of clinician follow-up for patients/clients who miss or cancel a medical or mental health appointment.
Policy:
Patients/clients of University Health Services (UHS) are responsible for compliance with clinician-suggested treatment regimens including making or keeping initial, follow-up, and referral appointments.
In general, missing or canceling a scheduled appointment is at the discretion of the individual patient/client and does not require follow-up with the patient/client by the UHS clinician. However, circumstances may arise in which the severity of the patient’s/client’s illness or patient’s/client’s care concerns dictate that the clinician attempt follow-up with the patient/client of missed or canceled appointments, and these attempts should be documented in the clinical record. These would include outpatients who display serious suicidal intent, are medically unstable, or who otherwise exhibit clinical conditions that should be prudently monitored.
Procedure:
Missed and canceled appointments are documented for patients/clients in the electronic health record (EHR). All clinicians use the EHR to monitor their appointment schedules and to document patient/client encounters. Clinicians can use the EHR to review the names as well as the primary complaint or reason for visit of their patients/clients who cancel an appointment. This routine review process will enable clinicians to identify patients/clients for whom attempts to contact or to follow-up on canceled appointments is indicated. Clinicians may utilize a reminder tool within the EHR to assist in this process.
UHS clinicians are responsible for contacting patients/clients in the particular cases cited above, in which follow-up of a missed or a canceled appointment, which has not been rescheduled, is indicated. To facilitate this review process for missed appointments—all patients/clients who no-show will have their appointment status changed to “no-show” by the reception staff or by the clinician with whom they had an appointment. In most instances, this will serve as the notice that the record has been reviewed and no further follow-up is indicated.
Clinicians at UHS Mental Health Services will be responsible for indicating “no-show” status in the clinical record for clients who miss their appointment.
The severity of the patient’s/client’s illness or patient’s/client’s care concerns may dictate that the clinician attempt to contact the patient/client to effect follow-up of the missed or cancelled appointment. In these cases, more detailed documentation of attempts to reach the patient/client or otherwise effect follow-up care should be documented in the clinical record.
Policy Administration
Approval Authority:
Associate Vice Chancellor & Executive Director
Policy Manager:
Associate Vice Chancellor & Executive Director
Contact:
Executive Assistant, University Health Services -- Pam Miller, pamela.miller@wisc.edu
