Glossary

1. Practice management systemPMS · clinic management software · practice management softwareA practice management system is the software that runs the business side of a clinic — appointments, patient contact details, invoicing and payments, staff, stock and reporting. It is distinct from a clinical record, which holds what was found and done, although most products today contain some of both.Read the full entry
2. DNA ratedid not attend rate · DNA · did-not-attendDNA stands for "did not attend". A clinic's DNA rate is the share of booked appointments where the patient neither arrived nor cancelled in time for the slot to be reused. It is the same measurement most of the world calls a no-show rate; the abbreviation is standard in the UK and among clinicians trained in the NHS.Read the full entry
3. Third next available appointmentTNAA · third available appointment · third next availableThe third next available appointment is the number of days until the third free slot in a clinician's diary, and it is used as the standard measure of how long a patient actually waits to be seen. The third rather than the first, because the first free slot is often a cancellation nobody has taken yet and therefore measures luck rather than access.Read the full entry
4. Recallpatient recall · recall system · recall campaignA recall is a message inviting a patient back for care that is due — a six-month dental check, an annual review, a repeat of a treatment on its own schedule. It is distinct from a reminder, which is about an appointment that already exists, and from marketing, which is about something you would like to sell.Read the full entry
5. Data controller and data processorcontroller vs processor · data processing agreement · DPAUnder the GDPR and the laws modelled on it, the data controller decides why and how personal data is processed, and the data processor handles it on the controller's instructions. For a clinic using software, the clinic is the controller of its patients' data and the software vendor is a processor acting for it.Read the full entry

No-shows, EMR versus EHR, clinic metrics, stock and pricing are not here because each already has an article that answers it in full. Two of our own pages competing for one question would win neither, and a glossary padded to look complete is padding.