Unscheduled Treatment Recovery

What triggers this workflow: The unscheduled treatment recovery workflow runs monthly, on a defined day (for example, the first Monday of each month). It can also include benefit-expiry campaigns in Q4, which target a specific subset of the unscheduled treatment list based on insurance benefit timing.

Report generation: Pull the unscheduled treatment report from the PMS. Define the parameters clearly so the report is consistent month to month:

• Active patients only (exclude inactive, dismissed, or deceased)
• Open treatment plans (treatment presented but not yet scheduled)
• Production value above a defined minimum (to focus effort on cases where recovery is worth the contact time)
• A defined age window: how old is too old? A treatment plan from five years ago may require re-evaluation by the clinician before outreach is appropriate.

Prioritization: The list produced by the report is not the working list. The working list is a prioritized subset, ordered by:

1. Production value: Higher-value cases have a higher return on outreach effort.
2. Patient engagement: Patients who have responded to prior contact are more likely to respond again.
3. Benefit timing: Patients with insurance benefit expiring at year-end and diagnosed unscheduled treatment have a time-bounded financial reason to schedule. These cases should be prioritized in the 90 days before benefit expiry.

A practice cannot work the full unscheduled treatment list with equal effort. Prioritization is what determines whether the effort produces a result.

The outreach sequence: For each case on the working list, the contact sequence is:

• Attempt 1: Primary channel (text or call), with a friendly, direct message referencing the recommended treatment
• Attempt 2: Alternate channel, after 7 days with no response
• Attempt 3: Final contact, after 14 days with no response from attempt 2

If there is no response after three attempts, mark the case as non-responsive for this cycle. Include it in the next monthly cycle.

Outcome coding: Every contact attempt is logged with an outcome code. The minimum set of outcome codes:

• Booked: Patient agreed to schedule; appointment created
• Declined: Patient explicitly decided not to proceed; note the reason if given
• Deferred: Patient interested but cannot schedule now; set a follow-up date
• Affordability barrier: Patient indicated cost is the primary obstacle; do not continue standard outreach
• No response: No answer after all attempts

Handling affordability objections: When a patient indicates that cost is the barrier, the appropriate response is to acknowledge the concern, mention any available payment options if the practice offers them, and close the case respectfully without pressure. Coding these cases separately from “declined” allows the practice to see how many cases are closed for financial rather than clinical or preference reasons. This is relevant information for the practice’s financial counseling decisions.

The benefit-expiry campaign: In October and November, run a targeted version of this workflow focused specifically on patients who have both open treatment plans and remaining insurance benefit. These patients have a financial deadline that makes the “schedule before year-end” message genuine rather than promotional. Benefit-expiry outreach is among the most consistently effective scheduled campaigns in a restorative practice.

Monthly reporting: At the end of each month’s working cycle: total cases on the working list, total contact attempts made, appointments booked, production value of booked cases, and outcome code distribution. This report is reviewed by the office manager or owner and serves as the measure of the workflow’s performance.