Patient phone calls are a necessity, and a potential liability, but Dr. S. Germain Cassiere said keeping track of calls is no longer a nightmare.
He has created software, called MessageTracker, to make this process easier.
The receptionist application initiates patient call records. When a call comes in, a receptionist fills out a template that pops up on his or her monitor. The record is sent to the physician, who sends it to a server computer that houses the database tables.
The nurse application contains a call record grid that resembles a spreadsheet showing calls that need responses. A nurse or physician documents the responses in the record. Once completed, the record is marked “done” and is automatically eliminated, said Dr. Cassiere, an internist in group practice in Shreveport, La.
Unless one wants printed records, the process is electronic. It cuts liability risk associated with missed and unreturned calls.
Calls can be searched by date or by the name of the patient or physician. “Our practice of six general internists handles 40,000–50,000 calls each year,” he said.
MessageTracker can be run without Microsoft's SQL Server as the database engine, so instead of the approximately $15,000 cost of the SQL Server and client licenses, Dr. Cassiere's cost for using the Nexus Database System was about $1,000.
MessageTracker is not currently for sale, but Dr. Cassiere said he's working on an improved version that will be available for purchase.