As soon as you end a visit with a member, the clock starts ticking.
As service coordinators, we are obligated to see our “frail” and “at risk” members every 30 days. Those who are not “frail” or “at risk” must be seen every three months. This means that if we see a frail member on August 13, our next appointment should be scheduled before September 13.
In fact, Hazel Park Service Coordinator Alexa Lempert recommends using the following link to keep precisely up-to-date on client visits:
http://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadd.html
The easiest way that I’ve found to keep track of client monitoring is by creating a simple spreadsheet. My spreadsheet consists of several different tabs that include various different lists.
You can create a tab in an Excel file by going to the very bottom of the spreadsheet. There, you can right click and voila! Rename the sheet to suit your needs.
To keep track of visits and contact with my “frail” and “at risk” clients then, I run a simple list in Excel. On the left side of the list are names, on the right side — you guessed it — the date when I had last seen him or her.
To some, Excel can be rather intimidating. However, in this instance, the program makes it pretty easy to track clients. In Excel, you can highlight names as well as add and delete entire rows. This can be particularly helpful as members become deactivated or when new members move in.
Additionally, you can run several different lists using Excel. My lists include: Enrolled Members, Active Members with Non-Participation Forms, Active Members who are Frail and At Risk, Active Members who are not Frail and At Risk.
At the very bottom of this post, you will find the word “Example” in blue. This is a link to a sample spreadsheet. If you are not familiar with Excel, please feel free to open the link (or open Excel on your hard drive) and play around with it a bit. It is quite a simple program, once you get used it.
By keeping these running lists, I know who’s who at all times — and so far, it’s worked for me!
Do you have any tracking tips?
Please share, and thanks!