Overview
You can now quickly see that a patient did not provide a mobile phone number or an email address at time of Check-In.
Now, athenaOne automatically resets the No Mobile and No Email check boxes at time of Check-in. Your practice can choose whether this happens every 6 months or 12 months via "Communication settings reminder" setting (see Setup instructions). The frequency means the reset will happen 6 or 12 months since the time these checkboxes were last checked.
Note
There are no new workflows for this feature. athenaOne automatically unchecks the No Mobile and No Email boxes and all you have to do is collect that information from the patient or check these boxes again if the patient does not wish to provide this information so you can finish Check-in.
Specific uses cases for patients under 18
There are specific uses cases for when the No email box gets reset for patients under 18.
| Patient age | When No email box gets reset | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Under 13 years old | No email box is only reset for Chart Contact Details. | Set a primary contact for the patient. If a primary contact (parent/legal guardian) exists on the patient record or if the patient is set as their own primary contact, the "No email" check box will not be reset (due to COPPA regulations). |
| Between 13 and 18 years old | No email box will be reset for these patients. |
Ensure all parents or legal guardians are made a primary contact. When the record has a primary contact, we always require an email for the primary contact and do not reset the "No email" check box on the patient record. |
Benefits
We're making this change so you have an easy way to ask patients who have been with your practice for a while whether they are interested in digital communications that they have not previously adopted.
Digital engagement with patients:
Helps Patient Portal adoption
Promotes online patient payments
Reduces paper statement costs
Improves patient outcomes.
Workflow scenario
For example:
A long time patient at your practice only gave their home phone number and never reconsidered their communication preferences even after acquiring a valid mobile phone number and email address. They may now be receptive to electronic communication.
Your front desk staff are looking to check patients in quickly and accurately. This may result in non-required questions getting skipped or not capturing information that isn't part of their regular workflow.
Now, at the time of Check-in, the No Mobile and No Email boxes are automatically unchecked every 6 or 12 months, allowing front desk staff to quickly and easily see that there is missing information.
Your front desk staff can then collect a mobile phone number and email address from the patient and your practice can start engaging digitally with them.