The Patient Who Fell Through the Cracks

You're looking at a patient's chart and see the note you wrote in April: rebook in 6 weeks. It's now September.

Nothing went wrong, exactly. You told her to book. She meant to. Then life got busy for both of you, and it wasn't anyone's job to notice she never did.

That's the gap. It isn't your clinical care, and it isn't your follow through with the patients in front of you. It's the ones who aren't in front of you. The ones halfway through a treatment plan who quietly drifted off your schedule.

A recall system catches them. Every patient with a recommended return date gets tracked. When that date passes without a booking, someone reaches out with a friendly check in and a link to book, and flags it for you if something needs your attention.

It's not a complicated system. But it's one more thing to watch every week, on top of everything else you're already carrying. That's exactly why it slips.

And this is patient care. A treatment plan only works if the patient comes back to finish it. Making sure they do is part of your standard of care. It just doesn't need to be your task.

This isn’t one of the first things I implement when working with a new client. But it is a task I add once we have our processes well oiled.

If a few patients are coming to mind right now, reply to this email. Let's make sure it's the last time someone slips through!