Practice Management Part 4: Task Checker, Common Catalogues

What is the context?

Meddbase is a complex, multi-layered EMR system, capable of accommodating a wide variety of workflows and business models ranging from small practices, straightforward setup and only a couple of people using the application, through to global enterprises with thousands of users and nuanced workflows and business requirements.

Meddbase provides a high number of configuration options allowing the application to adapt to complex business scenarios, as well as a host of default settings that it can fall back on when complexity is minimal.

Meddbase can be and is used in Primary Care, Secondary Care as well as in Occupational Health.

What is the purpose of the article?

This article is the 4th in a series of articles providing overview and details of setup and configuration steps required for Practice Management, which focuses on the application of the Meddbase system in Primary and Secondary Care.

• Click here for Part 1.
• Click here for Part 2.
• Click here for Part 3.1.
• Click here for Part 3.2.

This article will explain the following configuration aspects:

1. Task Checker - Automated messages and introduction to Template Code.
2. Common Catalogues. 

Task Checker - Automated messages and introduction to Template Code

The Task Checker is a section of Meddbase that allows configuring and defining automated email and SMS messages that will be sent from the system automatically*.

*Every patient record in Meddbase contains a Personal Details section where Consent options can be set for that patient. Consent options dictate what type of contact the patients agrees to receive and the system respects these settings throughout. Messages of a given type will not be sent to a patient who hasn't agreed to receive them. More on this can be found here.

To access the Task Checker: 

1. From the Start Page click the Admin tile
2. Click the Configuration tile
3. On the left-hand side menu scroll down and click Task Checker.

You will be presented with a series of configuration options* for various types of automated messages and tasks.

*Remember to click Save to apply your settings.

Appointment Confirmation

Appointment confirmation messages can be sent to the email address stored against a patient's record when an appointment is booked, either in Meddbase or via the Patient Portal.

Reminder messages can also be sent to a designated email inbox and a task assigned to the attending doctor.

A confirmation message can include the date, time and location of the appointment, as well as any supported template code.

For example:

Dear {Patient.FirstName},

Your appointment has been booked for {Appointment.Date} at {Appointment.StartTime} with {Appointment.Doctor.Title} {Appointment.Doctor.Surname} at {Appointment.SiteAddressOneLine}. We will require a minimum of 24 hours cancellation notice for you to avoid a 50% charge.

Could appear as:

Dear Joe Bloggs,

Your appointment has been booked for 01 August 2019 at 10:00 with Dr Foster at 2-3 Eldon Street, London, EC2M 7LS. We will require a minimum of 24 hours cancellation notice for you to avoid a 50% charge.

Within the Appointment Confirmation section are the following settings:

Appointment Reminder

Prior to the appointment start time, appointment reminder messages can be sent to the email address stored against a patient's record when an appointment is booked, either in Meddbase or via the Patient Portal.

Reminder messages can also be sent to a designated email inbox and tasks assigned to users in the Appointment Reminder Admin role group.

Within the Appointment Reminder section are the following settings:

Recall Reminder

When a Recall is created in Meddbase automated reminder messages and/or tasks can be sent/generated to patients and/or users at a specific moment in time before the recall due date.

Within the Recall Reminder section are the following settings:

Service Reminder

When a Test, e.g. Blood Lipids, has an 'Expected turn-around time from starting the test to receiving the results (in days)', set under Admin > Service Management > Test, Meddbase can trigger automatic reminder tasks and/or messages to a designated inbox and users, if the Lab does not return the Pathology Result within that time.

Within the Service Reminder section are the following settings:

Birthday Reminder

Meddbase can send birthday messages to patients automatically according to the date saved on their Patient Records.

Within the Birthday Reminder section are the following settings:

Questionnaire Reminder

This section is a part of a larger setup process for the Patient Portal feature.

When an appointment type with an associated questionnaire, that questionnaire is sent to the Patient Portal for the attending patient to complete.

Questionnaire reminder email and/or SMS messages can be sent to the patient prior to the appointment start time

Within the Questionnaire Reminder section are the following settings:

Common Catalogues

Common Catalogues is a feature/configuration section available to Administrators/supers of Meddbase that enables the configuration of different types of lists and codes. Commonly used data configured in Common Catalogues can typically be selected (usually from a dropdown menu) elsewhere in the system.

Examples of these are Sites, Locations, Payment types, Employee Divisions, Stock Record Types and Titles.

1. From the Start Page click the Admin tile.
2. Click the Common Catalogues tile.

Review date

This article was last updated on the 6th of June 2023 in the context of Meddbase version 1.265.1.15850