How to Set Reminders for Expiring Credential Documents

When you’re in charge of managing hundreds of credential documents, it is difficult to remember each expiration date without a sound reminder system. As a result, the accreditation surveyor may come across outdated documents, which are major risk factors for your facility’s accreditation.

Fortunately, technological advances have made scheduling automated reminders possible to help you remember each credential’s expiration date. With reminders instilled in your workflow, you’ll be able to save time by being a better and smarter prioritizer.

In this article, we will walk you through setting reminders for expiring documents with the free-to-use Google Calendar.  

Getting Started with Google Calendar

Google Calendar is a free web tool developed by Google to help users keep track of important events. It looks and functions like a normal calendar with one catch: it is completely digital. As a digital and web tool, Google Calendar has the ability to send you alerts about your event. Paper can’t do that.  

Setting up the Google Calendar:

1. Visit Google Calendar
2. Login with your Google account. If you don’t have one, we suggest creating a free Gmail account only for credentialing purposes.
3. After login, you will be taken to your Google Calendar.

This is what it looks like:

Creating a New Calendar:

1. Select ‘My Calendars’ → ‘Create New Calendar’
2. Name the calendar ‘Physician Credentials: Expiring Documents.’
3. Share the calendar with specific people by entering their email address and selecting their edit abilities. (optional)
4. Repeat process for another calendar named ‘Nurse Credentials: Expiring Documents.’ You will receive notifications for all calendars created with your Google account.

You can view one or all of the Google Calendars you’ve created by toggling ‘My Calendar’ items on the left side.

Creating Reminders

When creating reminders, think of each document expiration date as an event on the calendar. You will be able to receive notifications and view your upcoming responsibilities in an organized calendar format.

1. On the calendar page, click the red ‘Create’ button on the top left corner.
2. Name field: Name the event “LastName FirstName DocumentName Exp: dd/mm/yy”
3. Calendar field: Select the correct calendar in the dropdown menu.
4. Event color: Use the same color for document type across all individuals. (Ex: purple for every DEA and yellow for everything State Medical License)
5. Notification field: Set notification type and time. We suggest 4 weeks by email and popup; 2 weeks by email and popup; and 5 days by email and popup.
6. Click ‘Save.’

Getting Notifications

Based on the notifications that you set when creating the event, you will receive email and popup reminders before the event. To get popup notifications on your computer, you will need to have Google Calendar open on a browser.

When you receive a reminder, don’t put off the task because it is easy to forget. Check your Physician Organizer immediately to see if the file has already been updated, or add the task to your workload queue for the day. If the document on file is still outdated, reach out to the physician to collect the most current version.

The table below shows physician credential documents that have expiration dates and will need to be renewed. We have provided the number of years before each document expires, but we do recommend that you only schedule reminders based on the document’s listed expiration date. We do not recommend setting the reminders for 2 years, 1 year, etc.

Document

Silversheet can send you automatic reminders about expiring and expired documents without having to coordinate with a separate calendar system. Learn how our software can help you eliminate tedious steps in credential management.