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OutSmart Guide

How OutSmart Identifies an Existing Patient

When a patient uses your online booking page, OutSmart tries to recognize them as an existing patient before creating a new record. This prevents your patient list from filling up with duplicate records every time someone re-books.

The Matching Fields

OutSmart matches on three fields:

  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Date of Birth

If all three match an existing record, the new booking is attached to that existing patient. If any of the three doesn’t match cleanly, a new patient record is created.

Patient Portal Accounts Match Automatically

If the patient already has a Patient Portal account and is signed in when they book, OutSmart connects the booking directly to their patient record without needing to rely on the three-field match. This is the most reliable path — recommend that returning patients log in.

Why Match Failures Happen

The match looks for an exact comparison, so small differences in any of the three fields cause a miss:

  • Spelling variations — “Catherine” vs. “Katherine”, “Jon” vs. “John”
  • Hyphenation differences — “Smith-Jones” vs. “Smith Jones”
  • A nickname or preferred name in one place and the legal name in the other
  • An incorrect date of birth on either the existing record or the booking

If you find that returning patients keep ending up with duplicate records, it’s almost always because of one of these. Keeping the existing patient record’s name and date of birth accurate is the single best way to prevent duplicates from being created.

What to Do If a Duplicate Was Created Anyway

If a patient books online and OutSmart creates a new record because their name + date of birth didn’t match the existing one cleanly, you can combine the two records using the Patient Merging Tool. See Merging Duplicate Patient Records.

When a duplicate comes from online booking specifically, the new record reflects how the patient self-identifies — the older record’s name or date of birth is probably slightly off. Either set the newer record as the Master and merge the older record into it, or copy the new identifying details into the older record’s demographic fields before removing the new one. Otherwise the same duplicate will be created the next time the patient books online.