TL;DR
Replace 'qualified LASIK candidates' with labels that state what the records establish. Receipt, contact, appointment confirmation and attendance are administrative events. Clinical candidacy requires qualified assessment. Adopt a terminology audit that identifies who can assign each label, its supporting evidence and what the report must exclude.
Challenge the word candidate before the performance claim
If an agency calls every form submission a candidate, ask what happened between the form and that label. Did the person express interest, answer administrative questions, attend an evaluation or receive a qualified clinical determination? A sales-friendly term should not compress those events into an implied medical finding.
FDA describes an initial evaluation by an eye doctor to determine whether someone is a good LASIK candidate. FDA's evaluation guidance. That is the factual boundary for this audit. It does not supply a screening script or authorize a marketer to interpret examination results.
The owner's immediate task is to make the acquisition report interpretable. Accurate administrative labels can still demonstrate useful work. Inflated terminology makes it harder to tell whether the next problem belongs to advertising, scheduling or the practice's reporting definitions.
Use a terminology and authority audit
Have the reporting owner complete this original audit with the coordinator and qualified service lead. The table proposes management labels; it does not claim that a particular CRM implements them.
| Report label | Minimum evidence under the proposed definition | Who verifies it | What it must not imply |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inquiry received | Relevant request reached the approved destination | Receiving team | Unique person, appointment or suitability |
| Administratively contacted | A documented exchange under the practice's definition | Coordinator | Clinical clearance or readiness for surgery |
| Evaluation requested | Person asked for the defined evaluation route | Scheduling | A reserved appointment |
| Evaluation confirmed | Appointment confirmed under actual scheduling rules | Scheduling | Attendance or a clinical determination |
| Evaluation attended | Attendance verified for that appointment type | Authorized practice reporting owner | Approval for a procedure |
| Clinical determination recorded | Qualified team has recorded its assessment in the appropriate system | Qualified clinical owner | Permission to expose findings in a marketing report |
For each actual dashboard field, record its source, assigned role, duplicate rule and definition version. Mark a missing source as unresolved. Do not let a campaign's 'conversion' setting override the practice's meaning of an evaluation.
Preserve parallel facts instead of a single score
An inquiry can be administratively contacted while its appointment remains unconfirmed. A person can reschedule without becoming another acquired person. Someone can attend an evaluation and choose not to proceed. A valid report needs enough history to preserve those facts without forcing everyone through a favorable sales sequence.
Keep event history separate from current action state. The historical record may show that an evaluation was requested; the current state may be awaiting a scheduling response. Deleting the earlier event loses acquisition context. Leaving only the earlier event conceals unfinished work.
Retain unknown and unavailable states. If the agency cannot access attendance evidence, it should report its verified upstream event rather than estimate attendance from a reminder sent. If clinical information is unnecessary for the purchasing decision, keep it outside the marketing analysis.
Audit the language on public surfaces too
Read the form introduction, quiz result, acknowledgement and automated message. 'You may ask about an evaluation' and 'you qualify for LASIK' convey different things. Have the qualified practice owner assess any wording that implies individualized suitability. Do not deploy a promotional quiz as a substitute for clinical assessment.
Check how administrative filters are described. A contact who requested the practice's location or accepted a callback can meet a documented administrative criterion. Call it that criterion. Avoid relabeling the result 'medically qualified' because a vendor wants a stronger performance headline.
Use the claim-display acceptance guide after the underlying definitions are approved. It checks whether cards, buttons and summaries preserve an approved claim; this audit establishes the acquisition labels and assignment authority first.
Correct prior reporting transparently
Ask the provider to map old labels to the new dictionary only where the evidence permits. If an old 'qualified' total contains forms without later verification, retain it as a historical vendor-defined measure and explain the limitation. Do not manufacture a corrected clinical candidate total from incomplete records.
Save a transition note: former label ___; supported event ___; evidence gap ___; replacement label ___; effective reporting change ___. Compare periods only when definitions and inclusion rules remain compatible. The reporting specification provides the broader evidence requirements.
GetPatients has a commercial interest in healthcare visibility services. Apply this terminology test equally to its reporting proposals and other providers. A report should earn acceptance through clear definitions rather than the strength of its sales language.
Frequently asked questions
Can we still use qualified inquiry as a label?
Define the administrative criteria visibly and identify the evidence owner. Use wording that cannot reasonably be mistaken for clinical suitability, and avoid the label when its meaning remains ambiguous.
Is attendance a reasonable marketing outcome?
It can be a verified acquisition milestone when appropriately available. It does not establish treatment suitability, a chosen procedure or incremental revenue.
Do we need clinical detail to assess the agency?
Usually the purchase question can be framed around accepted work and verified administrative events. Have the practice decide what limited summary is appropriate; do not request clinical records merely to improve the dashboard.