Follow-Ups/Recalls (hereafter referred to as Recalls) are very useful for ensuring your repeat business does not slip through the cracks. However, it can be difficult to fully set up to get the most out of them. This article will delve into how to set up MacPractice to do the heavy lifting for you, and how to adjust your workflow to ensure Recalls work for you.

If you prefer a video format, please refer to Recalls /& Follow -Ups Video Guide 1 - Set UpUps Series for the beginning of a video series of how to use Recalls/Follow-Ups.

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To add a new Recall Type, simply click the Green Plus at the top of the Sidebar. This will add a new Recall. You can name the Recall what you like, and you can set the Frequency in Days. For example, if you want to create a Six Month Recall, you would set a Frequency of Days of 180-186 days (30 or 31 * 6).

You can add as many Recall Types as you like, and we strongly recommend you add as many as you need to cover all of your variations of how you typically handle Recall Types.
If you need to remove a Recall Type, simply select the Recall Type and click the Red Minus in the Sidebar.f

Tying Follow-Up/Recall Types to Procedures (Optional)

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Navigate to References > Fee Schedules, selected the desired Fee Schedule, and then you can search for the Procedure you wish to tie to a Recall Type. The Follow-Up/Recall Type drop down is right below the Short Description field. Select the Recall Type you wish to tie, and then save the record by pressing Command-S. Alternatively, you can save the record by using the Edit Menu > Save Record.
Repeat these steps for any other procedures that you wish to tie.

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Adding a Recall to a Patient's Record

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If you have a procedure selected that you have previously tied to a Recall Type in References > Fee Schedule, the Recall Type drop down will automatically default to that selected Recall Type. Otherwise, you can simply select the desired Recall Type here.

When you save the Charge, the Recall will be added to the Patient. You can verify this by navigating to the Patient Ability > Patient Tab > Follow-Ups or Recalls.
If "Schedule a Follow-up Appointment After Charge" is checked in Preferences > Ledger > General, when the charge is posted, you will see this prompt:

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Make sure to check "Apply to Patient". This will ensure any template with this form section will add any selected Recall Type to the Patient's record.

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Tying Appointments to Recalls

The appointments listed under the Recall or Follow Up node of the Schedule sidebar displays patients in black, blue, or green text. Each of these colors communicates 

• If the name appears in green text, it indicates the patient has a Recall or Follow Up and is linked (tied) to an appointment on the schedule.

• If the name appears in black text, it indicates the patient has a Recall or Follow Up created from a charge but the Recall or Follow Up either has not been scheduled, or is not associated to an appointment.

• If the name appears in blue text, it indicates that the patient has a Recall or Follow Up that is tied to an appointment that has been flagged as missed/cancelled.

You can easily tie any appointment to a Follow-Up/Recall by right clicking the appointment in question and select Set Recall. (Note: In Build 9.6+, this has been renamed to "Tie Recall".) This menu will list every Recall available on the Patient's account.

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If you are scheduling an appointment, you can have it tie to a Recall by selecting the Recall in the Sidebar, and then create the appointment. The created appointment will be tied to that Recall.

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Using the Follow-Ups/Recalls Report

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For more information, please refer to Marketing Report - Follow-Up & Recall.

AutoRemind Recall Notifications

If you have AutoRemind active on your license and have the option enabled on AutoRemind's side, you can utilize The Follow Ups/Recalls report to send Recall or Follow-up reminders to patients. 
To send AutoRemind Recall Notifications, use the following process:

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1. Add a Follow-up or Recall: Before AutoRemind Recall Notifications can be sent, enter a Recall or Follow-up in the patient's record. The Recall / Follow-up topic demonstrates how recalls work within MacPractice.

2. Set the Preferred Recall Method: After the patient has a recall or follow-up listed, set the Preferred Recall Method pop-up menu to the AutoRemind Notification Profile. You can set this for an Account by navigating to the Patients Ability > Patient Tab > Communication sub-tab. 

   Information on patient account setup for AutoRemind is available in Patient - Reminders.
   An important caveat for clients running MacPractice 11.17 and earlier:
   If you use a Communication Preference and a patient does not have the corresponding field set in the Patient Tab of the Patients Ability, it will cause an error to occur and interrupt sending a batch of Recall Reminders. The error will look like this:

   If you see this error, you can click the "Make List" button to generate a list into your Lists Window that will contain the patients who still need Recall Reminders sent to them. You can use that List to ensure each of your Patients has the desired Communication Method set in their Patient Tab. 
   Each Communication Preference corresponds accordingly:
   E-mail corresponds to the patient's Email Address field.
   Text / SMS Message will correspond with a Mobile Phone Number.
   Voice Message options will correspond to that type of Phone Number in the Patients Tab.

3. Send Recall Reminders: Use the Follow-up or Recall Report to send reminders to patients.
   Note: In order to Send Recalls, you must have a default postcard form set in Preferences > Forms.

   Run the report, then click the Send Recalls button. From the resulting window outlining the number of each recall type to be sent, enter a comment to be printed on the post cards if paper reminders are also sent. Click the OK button to generate the AutoRemind electronic messages and print any post cards. AutoRemind recommends running this report for a month date range at least twice per month. This will send an additional reminder to patients that have not yet scheduled an appointment.

   If you do not see the drop downs by "Emails", "SMS", "Voice" and "Postcards" at the top of this screenshot above, you may not have the AutoRemind Follow-Up/Recalls feature active. Please contact AutoRemind to discuss purchasing this option.

4. Schedule Recall appointments: When an appointment is scheduled, link  link the appointment to the Recall or Follow-up to ensure up to ensure that the Recall or Follow-up Report will not generate duplicate reminders for patients that have scheduled an appointment.

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