Dental Malpractice risk management : The tip: plan to follow up missed or Cancelled appointments
The Risk : A missed or cancelled appointment, and the failure of a practice to follow up with or contact the patient, may result in a serious delay in diagnosis or treatment and a subsequent risk of liability for the provider. The Recommendation: A pro-active system to follow up with patients about missed or cancelled appointments allows a dentist to promptly assess and respond to clinical situations, thereby maintaining continuity of patient care. 1 . Develop policies and procedures in your practice for following up with patients who have missed or cancelled appointments. 2 . Dentists should be made aware of any patients who have missed or cancelled appointments. The staff should inform the dentist(s) of these patients at the end of the day and have each patient’s record ready for the dentist’s review. 3 . The dentist should assess the clinical importance of the appointment, the severity of the patient’s condition, dental practices are not required to obtain accr