Patient Information – Purging a Patient

Situations arise when patient records need to be removed from MOGO.  This could be because the patient has not returned for treatment for a long period of time, or they could have moved, or they could have passed away.  In these situations, the initial reaction some may have is to delete the record so that it no longer shows on the Patient Lookup List.  MOGO recommends, however, that you only use the delete function in situations where a record was created erroneously.  In nearly all other situations, the recommendation is actually to Purge the patient.

Purging a patient removes them from the patient list, but retains their record.  This way in situations where a patient has moved, if they then move back they can be reinstated without creating a new record.  It also keeps all of the patient history (appointments, transactions, etc) intact.

Purging a patient is simple, and is done from the Patient Lookup List.  With the desired patient selected click on the Patient menu. Approximately half way down the list is an option that says Purge.  Note: purging patients is a login right that can be assigned by the Supervisor. If the current user does not have this right the Purge option will be grayed out. After clicking the Purge option, MOGO will prompt to make sure you wish to purge the patient. Click Yes to proceed. MOGO will then inform you of the following warnings if applicable to this patient: If they are a family head; if they have an outstanding family balance; if they have an outstanding patient balance. If you still want to purge them click on Yes to proceed.

When purging a patient you will be brought to the Purging Patient window.  This is an important step of he purging process, as it is how we designate a few important items.

• Whether we want to remove this patient from all Recall Lists.
• Whether we still want to send billing statements (if they have an outstanding balance).
• Whether we are marking the patient as deceased.
  • Marking a patient as deceased will automatically select the prior two options.
• if the patient is a family head, the lowest ID numbered family member will be assigned as the new family head.

Patients who are purged will show on the patient lookup list with an exclamation mark (!) in their Account Status field.  The field will also be filled in magenta.  If the patient was marked as deceased, there will still be an exclamation point (!) in their Account Status field and their entire row on the Patient Lookup List will be highlighted in gray.

Purged patients can be hidden from being displayed on the Patient Lookup List under the View menu. By selecting the option ‘Hide Purged Patients’ all purged patients will no longer display on the list.

Note: Purged patients will still be searched when creating new patients.