Diabetes admin: supplies, refills and the appointment calendar

Inventory every supply item, exactly as it is printed on the box

The reason to copy model and reference numbers precisely is that substitutions cause problems, and the person on the phone at the supplier will ask for the number, not the description. Take the box out of the cupboard and copy what is on it.

One row per item: what it is, the brand, the model or reference number printed on the packaging, the quantity currently in the house, where it is stored, which supplier or pharmacy provides it, and the phone number.

Add a reorder point — the quantity at which you place the order, not the quantity at which you run out. A week's buffer is the standard, and it is the difference between an order and an emergency.

Photograph the boxes with the numbers visible and keep the photos with the record. When somebody else has to reorder while you are away, they can do it from the photographs alone.

• Item, brand, and the model or reference number as printed
• Quantity in the house today, and the date counted
• Where it is stored, including anything kept in a fridge
• Supplier or pharmacy, account number, phone number
• Reorder point — the count that triggers the order
• Whether it comes from a pharmacy or a medical equipment supplier, because the process differs
• A photograph of each box with the numbers legible

The reorder calendar beats good intentions

Count the days each supply lasts, then put a reorder date in the calendar a week before it runs out. Do that for every item, and set a phone reminder as well as writing it in the binder. It takes half an hour once.

Ask the pharmacy three administrative questions and write the answers on the record: how much notice do you need for each item, do you deliver, and can these be synchronised so they come due on the same date. Refill synchronisation is a routine service and it collapses six recurring tasks into one.

Some items are handled by a medical equipment supplier rather than the pharmacy, and those often need a fresh order form from the doctor's office periodically. Ask what triggers that and how many days it takes, and put that date in the calendar too.

Keep a simple collected log: item, date collected, quantity. If anybody ever asks whether supplies have been continuously available, the answer is on that page.

• A reorder date per item, one week before the last of it
• Phone reminders as well as the written calendar
• Notice required by each supplier — asked and written down
• Delivery available? Cut-off time for orders?
• Can refills be synchronised to one date?
• Which items need a new order form from the doctor, and how long that takes
• A collection log with dates

The insurance paperwork, kept in one sleeve

Coverage for supplies is an administrative matter with letters attached, and the letters arrive looking unimportant. Keep every one, in date order, in a single sleeve — approvals, denials, formulary notices, plan changes, explanation of benefits statements.

When a supplier says an item needs approval from the plan before it can be sent, write down the date the request was made, who made it, and what reference number it was given. Then set a chase-up date a week later. Requests that fall between a doctor's office and a plan are the most common reason a supply does not arrive, and they are only visible if you have written the date down.

Ask the plan's member services line for the answer in writing whenever it matters. Ask the doctor's office who handles these requests and get that person's direct number — it is usually one specific member of staff, and knowing their name saves hours.

• Every letter from the plan, whole, in date order
• Approval requests: date, who submitted, reference number, chase-up date
• The name and direct number of the person at the doctor's office who handles them
• Member services number and your parent's member ID
• Plan year end date, and any notice about changes for next year
• Explanation of benefits statements, filed not binned
• A one-line log of every phone call: date, who, what was said

Appointments: several offices, one calendar

Diabetes admin usually involves more than one office, and each books independently. Put them all on one calendar page in the binder so you can see the year, then ask each office whether visits can be combined.

For each appointment, record the date, time, which office, the address, and who is taking your parent. Add the practical access notes — parking distance, drop-off point, how much time to allow — because those decide how the day goes.

Ask one administrative question at every visit: can labs or tests be done on the same day as the appointment. Offices often say yes when asked and never offer it unprompted. For a parent for whom travel is difficult, that single question removes several trips a year.

File after-visit summaries in date order and write the next appointment down before leaving the building.

• One calendar page for every office involved
• Address, parking, drop-off, and time to allow, for each
• Who drives, and whether a second person is needed
• Can labs and the appointment be booked on the same day?
• Cancellation number and the notice required
• After-visit summaries in date order
• Next appointment written down before you leave

Records that a professional asked for, and nothing else

If a clinician has asked your parent to keep a record of numbers, your job is to supply the format and the filing, not the interpretation. Ask exactly what they want recorded, how often, and how they want it presented at the next visit. Then build a grid with those columns and no others.

Date, time, the reading, and anything the clinician asked you to note beside it. Nothing else. Do not add your own commentary or conclusions to the sheet — take any observation you want to raise on a separate page, written factually, with the date.

A week-per-page grid on the kitchen wall gets filled in. Take the pages to the appointment in date order, and keep the run in the binder afterwards.

If nobody has asked for a record, do not invent one. Ask at the next appointment whether one would be useful and write down the answer.

• Ask what to record, how often, and in what format
• Date, time, reading — the clinician's columns only
• No interpretation, no commentary, on the record sheet
• Observations you want to raise: separate page, factual, dated
• Week per page, on the wall
• Taken to appointments in date order, filed afterwards

Questions