Follow-up care

A care task describes work for a patient, names the person assigned, and carries a due date and completion date. Its status can be Open, in progress, Completed, Escalated or Cancelled. Licensed Clinician can manage these records as care continues after an encounter. The Clinical Coordinator can also manage tasks, helping the team follow work that crosses from one person to another.

Care tasks link to a patient rather than a specific encounter. That makes the task useful for follow-up across visits, but the task text should give enough context for the assignee to understand the action. The team should use the latest encounter and clinical documentation when deciding what to assign; the task then carries the practical next step and deadline.

• Assign. Licensed Clinician records a patient, a clear task, a due date and a named assignee.
• Work. The assignee moves the task from Open to in progress and updates progress.
• Close or escalate. Completed tasks get a completion date; Escalated tasks stay visible for attention.

The open-task list brings together Open, in progress and Escalated work. A personal view lets an assignee find their own tasks. The status choice should reflect the real next action. A task that cannot proceed because the patient cannot be reached needs a clear note in its task text and an operating decision on escalation or cancellation.

Agree which follow-up actions belong in a care task and who assigns them. Decide what the due date means for urgent work, who monitors overdue items, and who can close an escalated task. Establish the rule for a changed assignee: the patient task stays in place, while the responsible person is updated. Train staff to enter a completion date when they mark Completed so due and completion timing can be reviewed.

Rehearse access. Licensed Clinician and Clinical Coordinator can manage care tasks; Clinical Reviewer can inspect them. People records hold the assignees. Check that each staff member can find their personal task list and that a coordinator can see the work still awaiting action.

After a patient encounter, a clinician asks for a follow-up call. They create a task against the patient, write the call instruction, assign a colleague and set a due date. The assignee opens the personal list, starts the work, and marks it in progress. If the patient is reached, the assignee records completion and date. If the issue needs another clinician, the task becomes Escalated so it stays in the open list.

The coordinator reviews open tasks alongside upcoming encounters. If a new encounter is booked, the task remains on the patient record; staff can check the latest visit before acting. This keeps the outstanding care action visible across the visit handoff.

• Open care tasks — Active and escalated patient actions ordered for follow-up.
• My care tasks — Work assigned to the current clinician with due and completion dates.

See follow-up coordination and encounter preparation. Use the reports guide to review due work by assignee.