Patient Status

What you'll learn: What each patient status means, when to use them, and how to change a patient's status.

Understanding Status

Every patient has a status that indicates their current relationship with your practice. This helps you organize your patient list and track your patient pipeline.

Available Statuses

Active

Color: Green

Use for:

• Current patients receiving regular care
• Patients with scheduled appointments
• Anyone actively engaged with your practice

This is the most common status for established patients.

Inactive

Color: Gray

Use for:

• Former patients who no longer visit
• Patients who haven't been seen in a long time
• Patients who have moved away
• Anyone you're no longer actively treating

Inactive patients remain in your system for record-keeping but don't clutter your active patient list.

Prospect

Color: Yellow

Use for:

• People who have inquired but not scheduled yet
• Potential patients researching your services
• Referrals who haven't made contact yet
• Anyone in your pipeline who might become a patient

Prospects help you track potential business.

Lead

Color: Blue

Use for:

• Initial contacts from marketing
• Website form submissions
• People who have shown initial interest
• Pre-qualified contacts before they become prospects

Leads are earlier in the pipeline than prospects.

Viewing Status

Status appears in several places:

• Patient List — As a colored badge next to each name
• Patient Profile — In the header area
• Search Results — Alongside patient information

Changing Status

From the Patient Profile

1. Open the patient's profile
2. Click Edit
3. Find the Status dropdown
4. Select the new status
5. Save changes

When to Change Status

Active to Inactive:

• Patient hasn't visited in over a year
• Patient requests to stop receiving communications
• Patient has permanently left your service area

Inactive to Active:

• Former patient returns for new care
• Patient schedules an appointment after a long break

Prospect to Active:

• Prospect books their first appointment
• Prospect completes intake and becomes a patient

Lead to Prospect:

• Lead responds to outreach
• Lead requests more information or a consultation

Status Best Practices

Review periodically — Check inactive patients occasionally for anyone who should be reactivated.

Update promptly — Change status when the relationship changes to keep reports accurate.

Use all statuses — Don't leave everyone as "Active" — proper status tracking helps you understand your practice growth.

Consider automation — The AI phone assistant may update status automatically based on appointment activity.

Status in Reports

Patient status affects your practice analytics:

• Active patient count
• Conversion rates (leads to prospects to active)
• Reactivation tracking
• Patient retention metrics

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Next: Patient Tags | Previous: Editing Patient Information