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Overview and prerequisites for missed appointments (preview)
In this articleImportant Some or all of this functionality is available as part of a preview release. The content and the functionality are subject to change. The missed appointments feature is based on an AI model that helps organizations assess the likelihood that patients will miss their next appointment. The predictions can be used by healthcare providers to take proactive measures that help ensure that patients will attend their next appointment and maintain continuity of care. Missed appointments are costly for clinics, and research has shown that patients who miss one appointment are significantly more likely to miss additional appointments. Note Any reference to a user in this documentation is to a user who is working on behalf of, or for a healthcare provider. A user isn't a patient. Data is imported from a data source into Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, where predictions are generated by the AI model. These are surfaced in the unified patient view for care team members, and can also be used to support outreach campaigns. Preparing the missed appointments feature includes the following steps:
Intended use
LimitationsTechnical limitationsThe model isn't pre-trained and will need to be trained by the user of a healthcare provider. Preview limitationsThe feature is currently in preview. Therefore, this feature is subject to change, and:
PrerequisitesLicensing and software prerequisitesYour organization needs the following licenses to be able to use this feature:
Data prerequisitesSee Model attributes for a list of required and recommended data attributes for your dataset. These attributes are based on the FHIR standard and the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare data model. Important
Using fewer data points creates a higher risk of overfitting, which means that while the performance of the model on training data may suggest good quality, the model might not generalize well to future inputs. This might negatively impact the performance of the model in production. There's also a risk of underfitting, which means that the model isn't able to learn the patterns in the data and won't perform well. We recommend using at least one year of historical data of approximately 10,000 patients as a starting point. This will help the model generalize well to future inputs and learn complex patterns in the data, which will reduce the chances of overfitting or underfitting. In addition, we recommend the following:
Important The missed appointments feature is likely to produce inconsistent or under-performing results for groups that aren't well represented in the training dataset. To mitigate the fairness risk of the model performing worse for specific groups, ensure that the data contains a significant amount of data for patients in these groups. Mitigate fairness risksAI and machine learning systems can display unfair behavior. One way to define unfair behavior is by its harm, or impact on people. There are many types of harm that AI systems can give rise to. For guidance on how to build your training dataset to mitigate fairness risks, see the previous section on Data prerequisites. For additional guidance about how to define and mitigate fairness risks, including how to ensure that your model is performing fairly after it’s been trained, go to Machine learning fairness, Microsoft’s AI fairness checklist, and also see Responsible AI resources. ComplianceYou may train the model on protected health information (PHI), and the view of the model predictions in the unified patient view may contain PHI. Access to the Dynamics 365 Customer Insights instance with the missed appointments prediction and any unified patient view forms that contain the predictions should be limited to those who have access to PHI. To manage access, multiple unified patient view forms can be created in such a way that only some users at a healthcare provider end can see the prediction. For more information, go to Set up unified patient view controls. The missed appointments feature also uses automated means to evaluate data and make predictions based on that data, and therefore has the capability to be used as a method of profiling, as that term is defined by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Customers’ use of this feature to process data may be subject to GDPR or other laws or regulations. You're responsible for ensuring that your use of Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, including the missed appointments feature, complies with all applicable laws and regulations, including laws related to privacy, personal data, biometric data, data protection, and confidentiality of communications. See alsoWhat is Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare? FeedbackSubmit and view feedback for How do you document no show appointments?For more standard no-shows -- and with patients who aren't particularly sick -- you can print routine follow-up letters from the physician expressing concern about the missed appointment and asking the patient to call in to reschedule. Keep a copy of the letter in the patient's record.
Why is important to follow up with a patients?Followup is the act of making contact with a patient or caregiver at a later, specified date to check on the patient's progress since his or her last appointment. Appropriate followup can help you to identify misunderstandings and answer questions, or make further assessments and adjust treatments.
What steps can and should be taken to avoid missed appointments?7 More Tips to Reduce Patient No-Shows. Make Daily Reminder Calls. ... . Set Up Automatic Reminders. ... . Keep a Wait List. ... . Don't Wait to Reschedule Your No-Shows. ... . Some Patients Need Extra Reminders. ... . Be Proactive with Your Schedule. ... . Have a Written Policy.. What should not be documented in a medical record?The following is a list of items you should not include in the medical entry:. Financial or health insurance information,. Subjective opinions,. Speculations,. Blame of others or self-doubt,. Legal information such as narratives provided to your professional liability carrier or correspondence with your defense attorney,. |