Automated Recall Types

Automated recall types control the automatic generation of recalls. They can be edited by the Communicare Administrator.

Note:

Changing the details of Automated Recall Types affects the future generation of recalls and attempts to force existing recalls to conform to the new rules.

Recalls created by a service provider are not deleted, except in the following circumstances:
  • If you regenerate recalls
  • If the recall is no longer valid. For example:
    • If the patient's sex has changed or the recall rule sex has changed
    • If the patient's aboriginal status has changed or the recall rule aboriginal status has changed
    • If the minimum or maximum age has changed or the patient's age is no longer within the recall rule range
To create an automated recall:
  1. Select File > Reference Tables > Automated Recall Types.
  2. In the Automated Recall Types window, click Add iconAdd.
  3. In the Recall type properties window, from the When list, select the type of rule. Choose from:
    • On Registration - a recall is added to all patients' files according to the parameters you set. You should define the item you are recalling and the age at which the recall should be dated. Other parameters are optional.
    • On Completion or On Presentation - these recalls are created only when a specific procedure (on completion) or condition (on presentation) is added to or exists in a patient's file. Define both the recall and the item or item group that triggers the recall.
    • On Qualifier - this rule behaves like the On Completion and On Presentation recalls but is triggered by a response to a qualifier. Specify the qualifier. If the qualifier is numeric, a range of values can be specified. If the qualifier is Yes/No or a checkbox, define the response (any, true or false). If the qualifier is a dropdown list, define the outcome.
  4. In the Recall for field, click Ellipsis buttonEllipsis and in the Clinical Terms Browser, select the clinical item for which you are creating a recall.
    Ensure that the clinical item class is appropriate for the rule type selected in step 3.
  5. Specify other information appropriate to the rule type selected in step 3.
    • Sex - all recall types can consider the sex of the patient. If you specify a sex, the automated recall is not added to a patient of the other sex, or no sex.
    • Aboriginal only - all recall types can consider the aboriginality of the patient. Set to include only those patients who are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, or both.
    • Min Age, Max Age - all recall types can consider the minimum age and the maximum age. If a patient has a recall still outstanding and reaches the maximum age, the recall is deleted by the system. Minimum age for On Registration recalls is very rarely required. Discuss with Communicare before enabling this rule.
    • Age - for On Registration specify an age for recalls. Ensure you include a measure: d for days, w for weeks, m for months, y for years. Communicare assumes a value with no other information is in days. A month is always 30 days and a year is always 365 days, so be aware that 12 months is slightly less than 1 year.
    • Offset - for On Completion and On Presentation instead of specifying the age of the patient as a date for the recall, define the time after the trigger item is added for the recall.
    • Responsibility - assign the responsibility to complete a recall to a user group as a default for the recall type. All new recalls then have the responsibility set to that default user group.
    • Expiry - for On Completion, On Presentation and On Qualifier recalls, specify an interval of time following the planned date of the automated recall. If a user has not completed or cancelled a recall before its expiry has elapsed, the system cancels the recall with the reason Expired. This option is only available for clinical item types with Allow Recall Expiry selected.
    • Needs confirmation by user - set to force providers to confirm that they want a recall before they can save it. Set this option if you want providers to think about a recall before automatically generating it.
  6. Click Save.
The recall type is added to the list in the Automated Recall Types window. Recall types are colour-coded:
  • Red - On Registration recall types
  • Blue - On Completion recall types
  • Purple - On Presentation recall types
  • Green - On Qualifier recall types
  • Grey - all disabled recall types

To hide all disabled recall types, in the Automated Recall Types window, set Hide Disabled.

Regenerating recalls

Every time a recall type is edited, the system attempts to rebuild all the automated recalls of that particular type.

This feature allows the system to regenerate recalls after changes to details of the automated recall type. Be aware however, that when you enable the recall type again, the recalls may not be generated in exactly the same way as they originally were. The differences are subtle and should not be a problem, but you should be aware of them.

For example, manually deleted recalls may be regenerated when they may not be wanted. For this reason it is usually better to cancel an unwanted recall type rather than delete it.
Note: Any recall associated with the recall rule you chose to regenerate recalls for are deleted, even if they were added by a provider. Any recalls that are not associated with a recall rule and were manually added by a provider are not deleted.
To force the regeneration of automated recalls including generated recalls that have comments attached or have non-standard intervals, except On Qualifier automated recalls:
  1. In the Automated Recall Types window, double-click the recall type that you want to regenerate recalls for.
  2. In the Recall type properties window, deselect Enabled and click Save.
  3. In the Automated Recall Types window, right-click the now disabled recall type and select Delete outstanding recalls and in the Confirm window, click Yes.
  4. Double-click the recall type, set Enabled again and click Save.
  5. Right-click the automated recall type and select Regenerate recalls.

Be patient, there may be thousands of recalls to create, so it may take a while.

Alternatively, to force a less rigorous but faster regeneration of automated recalls and leave recalls that have comments attached or have non-standard intervals untouched, in the Automated Recall Types window, right-click the automated recall type and select Regenerate recalls.