Set the rule once. The work shows up on a list.

What it does.

An automation is a rule that watches one thing and writes a task when something needs doing. The task carries a name, an owner and a due date, and it lands on the same list as everything else.

That is the whole of it. A rule never writes to a chart, never buys anything and never messages a patient.

The ten rules.

All ten are on when a workspace is made, except patient birthdays, which waits until a practice turns it on.

• 1
  Appointment reminders

  Watches the appointments coming up. Writes one task a day for the front desk, listing who to remind.

• 2
  Case follow-ups

  Watches open cases with a follow-up date. Writes a task for the clinical team when one comes due.

• 3
  Referral follow-ups

  Watches referrals still waiting on an answer. Writes a task when the follow-up date arrives.

• 4
  Recurring tasks

  Writes the same task every week, so the routine work is on a list instead of in somebody’s head.

• 5
  Inventory reorders

  Watches stock against its reorder point. Proposes an order when an item runs low.

• 6
  Purchase approvals

  Watches purchase requests waiting on a decision. Puts the approval in front of the office manager.

• 7
  Vendor requests

  Watches approved orders with no supplier yet. Writes a task to pick one and ask for a quote.

• 8
  Equipment and safety checks

  Watches service dates and safety checks. Writes a task before each one is due, and marks it Critical once it is late.

• 9
  Staff workload

  Counts the tasks past their due date. Says so once, quietly, when they pile up.

• 10
  Patient birthdays

  Gathers the week’s birthdays into one task. Nothing is sent; somebody decides what to do. Off until you turn it on.

Two of them ask first.

Inventory reorders and purchase approvals do not write a task on their own. They wait on the Automation screen until a person opens the proposal and either makes the task or writes it off. Nothing is ever ordered without somebody pressing the button.

Three things happen without a rule.

• A claim comes back rejected. It becomes a Critical task for billing, carrying the reason the clearinghouse gave. See insurance and the clearinghouse.
• A payer denies a line. It becomes an appeal task, due on the appeal deadline.
• A patient misses an appointment. It becomes a call task for the front desk, due within the hour.

Where to change them.

Open Settings › Owner & Admin Tools › Automation. Every rule is one card, with four things you can change:

• On or off. A rule that is off is left alone entirely.
• How often it looks. Every hour, every day or every week.
• How far ahead it looks. A few days for reminders and follow-ups, up to three months for equipment.
• Who gets the task. The owner, an administrator, the office manager, the front desk, the clinical team or purchasing.

What it does not do.

No message to a patient, by text, email or anything else. No clinical decision. No edit to a chart. No order placed, no money moved, no signature. Nothing leaves the building: the rules run on the workspace on your own computer, and what they write is a task on your own list.

Where this sits

The tasks these rules write land on tasks and notifications. Reminders have their own page, and the claim rules come from insurance and the clearinghouse. The full picture is on the features page.