Graham:What's the difference between left the practice and no longer active?
The point here is that there should be end-user definable options.
I'd say they are similar, but "left practice" = definite, and "no longer active" = haven't been around in a long while.
For me I will need to keep track of things like:
Is the patient "Rostered" ? or is the patient Fee For Service ? Did the patient refuse rostering or did I suggest not to roster ?
We might want to be able to search for archived patients.
Really, different practices will have different needs to computerize a patient's status.
I don't think just one variable will cover the options.
For a bigger group, they might have programs such as a Diabetes Program or a COPD program. These groups would want to flag a patient's chart that they are involved in a certain program. Maybe an aggressive billing doctor would want to flag patients whom have excellent insurance to treat them differently in their practice.