Ask Cielo

In each issue, a member of Cielo's Medical Advisory Board will answer your questions about clinical quality management, Cielo Clinic, and other topics discussed in this newsletter.

Q: When managing my patient population, how do I handle patients who don’t return regularly for care?

A: While certainly care providers would like to see a healthy and conscientious patient population, we all know the realities of a busy world. Fortunately, a clinical quality management system (CQMS) allows a practice to quickly extract accurate patient data in order to send regular visit reminders, as needed.

Unlike repurposed billing data, which can lead to errors in follow-up clinical visit recommendations, a CQMS uses clinical information, which accurately tracks episodes of care, providing timely and relevant patient communications. Cielo Clinic, in particular, allows a practice to generate reminders for visits, as well as reminders for care due for those patients not scheduled for a visit (much in the same way an automotive dealer does in the case of a recall or scheduled tune-up). While it still can't guarantee the patient will follow up, a CQMS allows physicians to do as much as possible to ensure the highest quality care.

Donald E. Nease, Jr., MD is Associate Professor and a Family Physician researcher in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan Health System and Chief Medical Officer at CieloMedSolutions.

If you have a question to ask Cielo, email us at ask@cielomedsolutions.com. We may feature your question in an upcoming issue.

Clinical Quality News

Volume 1 Issue 2 - June 2008

INSIDE THE ISSUE

Family Practice's Performance is 20% Better than Reported

10 "Must Haves" in a CQMS

News @ Cielo MedSolutions

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PAST ISSUES

Volume 1 Issue 1 - April 2008
In this issue: "Q is for Quality"
Volume 1 Issue 2 - June 2008

In this issue: "Family Practice's Performance 20% Better than Reported"

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