What patient follow-up practices can help reduce allegations of a failure to diagnose breast cancer?
• Make follow-up or test appointments before the patient leaves your office. • Create a system to recall and track patients who need follow-up. Without a tracking system to ensure that the patient actually returns to the office or for additional testing, a note in the record that a patient needs to be followed is insufficient. • Contact patients a day or two before their appointments to reduce noncompliance. • Ask the radiology department or specialist to notify your office of patients who do not keep scheduled appointments. • Document all patient no-shows or cancellations in the medical record. • Note patient refusals in the record with an explanation that the risks of not having a recommended diagnostic test or procedure were explained. Consider using an informed refusal form signed by the patient. • Track all surgical referrals to ensure that you are receiving a timely report from the surgeon.
