shahdb0323 wrote on Thursday, May 15, 2014:
Hi there, I installed the new version (4.1.2) and since then the past appointment widget is not working. I do see the Widget box in the features and I am entering a value there. But the widget dose not show in patient summary page.
thanks in advance for any help.
Shah
fsgl wrote on Thursday, May 15, 2014:
Old appointments are listed in Encounter History as a drop down menu. The Appointment widget displays current and future appointments with links to Edit Event.
shahdb0323 wrote on Thursday, May 15, 2014:
Yes, I can see that but Tony has added the Widget feature so that one can see and print pas appointment from patient summary page. This feature can be activated from Admin-global-Features and enter a positive number in the box for Past Appointment Display Widget. Then a past-apps widget should appear.
mdsupport wrote on Thursday, May 15, 2014:
Except for patients with excessive no-shows, is there any other reason to look for past appointments?
anonymous wrote on Thursday, May 15, 2014:
Sure there is. We use our calendar for collection reminders. Appointments are marked as encounter billed and payment received depending on the payment status. It’s another nice reminder of outstanding claims.
Would also be useful to see if an appointment was a no-show or cancellation without having to go into the calendar search function. Query results on the calendar search do not show the status field, so if you want to check past appointment status, you have to click on them individually.
Wasn’t aware that a past appointment widget was even available. I’ll have to check this out tonight.
anonymous wrote on Thursday, May 15, 2014:
As far as your issue goes, I was unable to reproduce this on the 4.1.2 demo. Is this an old installation that was just updated? Did you run sql_patch.php after patching?
mdsupport wrote on Friday, May 16, 2014:
Frankie, Just for my understanding so we can learn how this software can be used better.
We have active clinical reminder rules that pop collection reminder for balances above pt. specific limits. How does one use calendar as collection reminder?
Also daily record of Appointment-Encounter report is our biller’s bible. What are we missing by not looking at past appointments?
anonymous wrote on Friday, May 16, 2014:
I use the calendar for collections as sort of a “tickler” file. At the end of the week, I review all appointments from around 35 days prior and note any unpaid claims. If we have not yet received payment, I know to call the adjuster and inquire about payment status. The conversation is logged in the note widget and a dated remider is created to follow-up in another two weeks if necessary.
One day I’ll dive deeper into the reporting functions of OpenEMR. I just happened to find a nice little method that works for me. 
anonymous wrote on Friday, May 16, 2014:
There are also many occasions when a referral source will call and ask for status of a consultation. The past appointments widget could be used for quick reference that a patient was scheduled for consultation, but no showed or cancelled. This method is much more efficient than doing a calendar search, in my opinion.
The beauty of OpenEMR is that when a patient file is first opened, everything you need is right there in front of you. The past appointment widget compliments this nicely.
fsgl wrote on Friday, May 16, 2014:
The Past Appointment widget worked as designed in my production copy. We don’t need this widget with the expansion and modification of Calendar Categories.
You had recently imported a .csv file into patient_data. Are we talking about the same copy of OpenEMR? Perhaps the widget does not work on transferred data from another EHR.
If this is the case, we can try to come up with a work-around/solution if we know the intended use of this particular feature.