Working through an overdue recall list

The list is long and the same names keep coming back. Or the opposite: a patient you know is overdue isn't there at all. Both are common, and both usually trace to how the list is filtered and how results get recorded.

What each row tells you

Takes a minute to learn the columns. Open Dental's Recall List shows a due date, the patient, the recall type and the interval. It also shows the number of reminders sent since the last recall appointment, and the date of the last one.¹ It also shows the contact method and a status used to track recall communication about an unscheduled recall appointment.¹

Other products lay it out differently. SoftDent flags a late patient with a blue name in the Patient List window.² In SoftDent's User-Defined Recall setup, the help page says to run the User-Defined Recall report to generate a list of overdue patients.³

Step through it in order

1. Sort by due date. Oldest first keeps the longest-waiting patients from being buried.
2. Look at the reminder count. A patient with several reminders already may need a different approach, such as a phone call.
3. Use the preferred contact method. It's in the Contact column.¹
4. Record the result straight away. Set a status such as "left message" or "will call back". Skipping this is how the same name gets called twice.
5. Book if they say yes. Don't make the patient call back.

Why the patient vanishes

Open Dental lists several reasons a patient may not show. The patient may already have a recall appointment scheduled.¹ Or they were recently reminded and haven't waited long enough to reappear. Or the date range doesn't reach far enough back.¹

One more is easy to miss. If a recall is disabled, the patient is removed from the list.⁴ That's a deliberate switch, so check the patient's recall settings before assuming a bug.

Why the same patient keeps returning

Logging a contact counts. Open Dental says that adding a recall commlog (its note of a contact) counts as a reminder and removes the patient from the list.¹ If staff call and don't log it, the name stays.

When reminders run out

After the maximum number of reminders, a patient stops appearing. That isn't the end of the road. The manual says to check Include Reminded to bring them back onto the list for more reminders.¹

This matters if your office sends automated messages. Some patients won't meet the rules for automatic sending, so someone still has to look at the list from time to time.

A word on privacy

Voicemails and notes can carry private details. Keep them to the office name, a callback number and a request to ring back. For your country's rules, ask the official regulator, such as HHS in the United States or the OAIC in Australia, or ask a lawyer.

Open Dental may leave out a patient who has a recall visit booked. It depends on the "Exclude from list if recall scheduled" setting.⁵ An appointment that was never marked complete is still treated as scheduled.¹ The comparison with visit reminders has more.