broken glassesOptometrists are less likely to be sued than other healthcare professionals, but it still happens.

Lawsuits may even increase as optometrists embrace the medical model and its greater level of liability in patient care. Practicing ODs now have more situations to lose sleep over, like when a 20-year-old patient wearing contact lenses comes in with a white lesion in the cornea and a hot red eye.

Many times malpractice cases are for occurrences outside of actual exam room care.

 

A surprising amount of litigation deals with a patient’s care being abandoned. Thankfully, a well-researched and well-executed system can help your practice prepare for–or prevent–a patient abandonment case.

 

Contact your malpractice insurance carrier and state board to ask for guidelines specific to your state. Ask, “What are considered best practices for avoiding ‘abandoning’ patients when they have a history of not showing for appointments, not following your medical advice or routinely canceling appointments?”

 

Four guidelines to protect your practice from being sued for patient abandonment

 

  • Use a scheduling system that documents an exam was scheduled and then cancelled or the patient did not show up. Educate staff on proper note-taking in each situation. Don’t just erase or delete the exam entry on the chart. Mark it properly with a “N/S” (No Show) or “cancel.” Your practice management software should have within the patient’s chart a list of all appointments whether completed, rescheduled, cancelled, or a no show.
  • Repeat the scheduling at least three times before stopping your pursuit of the patient. Document every attempt made. If you use an automated system, I would recommend having your staff contact them directly and notate each conversation.
  • If there are no results with the above, write a letter to the patient and send by mail a return receipt request (this is when the recipient signs for the letter and the post office returns the receipt to you). Make sure the letter states  reasons why you want the patient to return and the possibility of losing vision permanently. Ask your malpractice insurance carrier to review the letter for appropriate wording and completeness.
  • If your malpractice carrier does not review your template letter, hire an attorney to read it for loopholes. The peace of mind will be worth the minimal costs of doing this.

 

Our office is completely digital with medical records, scheduling, recalls, and appointment reminders. However, we believe it is important for the final letter to be written on paper.

We currently use these guidelines based on our research. They are not official guidelines that can be used exactly for each state and malpractice carrier. I strongly recommend you use this to start the process of having a formal system in place tailored for your state and insurance to ensure your practice is not listed in a malpractice suit for abandoning a patient.