Practice Oversight & Accountability
Sentinel
You thought it was handled. Reports unfinished. Did the billing go out? Did the money come back—and does it match what you’re owed? Filing deadlines pass, claims become uncollectible, and attorneys stop referring because nobody followed through. Money goes missing, nobody can tell you who dropped the ball, and when someone quits, you inherit the job of figuring out what never got done.
Sentinel watches your office’s follow-through: unsealed notes, reports waiting on approval, filing deadlines, unpaid claims and the daily deposit, and sends each problem to the person who owns it.
The short version
What you need to know in half a minute
Sentinel is designed to be your office manager’s manager, watching clinical, financial and operational follow-through so unfinished work and approaching deadlines come into view before they become losses. It tracks billing from date of service to payment, flags cash that does not match the deposit, and shows who each task was assigned to and whether it was really finished. Your workflow shouldn’t walk out the door with an employee.
The problem
Work slips between people. A note is never sealed, a report waits a week for approval, a claim misses its filing window, the deposit is short. You find out late, and nobody can say who had it.
What it does
Every 15 minutes Sentinel checks the office against fixed clocks. When something stalls, it opens a work item, assigns it to the right role, and alerts the doctor by email when it is serious.
What changes in your office
You see a red, yellow or green picture of the practice. Each warning has an owner, a history and a next step. A task is closed only when the finished work is actually there.
- Unsealed notes and stalled approvals surface the same day
- Filing deadlines watched from the date of service
- Unpaid claims escalate at 30 and 60 days
- Every open item has a named role and a history
In your office
How Sentinel fits into your day
- During clinic hoursSentinel checks every 15 minutes. A visit note left open for about 3 hours becomes a card for the doctor before the day gets away.
- Reports waiting on youA report or care plan waiting on your approval shows up at 24 hours. At 72 hours you also get an email, so nothing sits for nine days.
- Billing deskYour office manager sees claims nearing their filing window at 7 and 14 days, and unpaid claims at 30 days. At 60 days the doctor or owner is told too.
- End of the dayThe cash that came in that day is compared with the cash staff hand to the doctor. Sentinel shows either “matches” or the exact dollar gap. The deposit slip is kept on file, but it is not the test.
- Front desk follow-throughInterrupted calls, overdue callbacks and accepted care plans with no booking work are raised as items for the person responsible.
- End of the weekThe weekly close-out is filled in for you. Your office manager reviews it and confirms it, rather than writing it from memory.
Screens
Screens and video
Screens and video for Sentinel are being prepared on a fictional demo practice. Until then, the clocks below show exactly what Sentinel watches and when it speaks up.
How the watching works
| Office check | every 15 minutes during the day |
|---|---|
| Visit note not sealed | after about 3 hours |
| Report or care plan waiting on approval | card at 24 hours |
| Approval still waiting | email to the doctor at 72 hours |
| Claim not filed after date of service | escalates at 7 and 14 days |
| PIP claim filing window | 35-day default |
| Billed claim unpaid | office manager at 30 days |
| Billed claim still unpaid | doctor or owner added at 60 days |
| Personal injury case with no inquiry scheduled | flagged at 30 days |
These are the timing rules built into Sentinel today. A schematic of the rules, not a screen from a live office.
In depth
What Sentinel does for your office
Unfinished charting shows up while you can still fix it
A visit note that has not been sealed after about 3 hours is flagged to the doctor. If the processing that runs after sealing stalls, the office manager is told. You close the gap the same day, not at audit time.
Nothing waits on your signature without you knowing
Reports and care plans parked for doctor approval appear as a card at 24 hours and an email at 72 hours. This rule came from a real case that sat nine days. The case moves when you approve it, and you know when it is waiting.
Every claim has a clock from the date of service
Sentinel counts from the date of service to claim filing and escalates at 7 and 14 days. PIP claims carry a 35-day filing default. Personal injury cases that go 30 days with no inquiry scheduled are flagged as stalled.
You can see where the money stopped
Billed claims are aged. At 30 days unpaid, the office manager gets the item. At 60 days, the doctor or owner is told as well. With an Office Ally feed, Sentinel also compares what your EHR says was billed with what Office Ally shows, and opens one task per claim that was never sent or was rejected without follow-up.
Cash in is compared with cash handed over
Each day, Sentinel compares the cash that came in with the cash staff hand to the doctor. A deposit slip often has no cash on it, so the slip is kept on file but not used for the comparison. You see either “matches” or the exact dollar gap, and each different gap sends the owner one alert.
Done means done, and you can see who did it
Every item has an owner, a history and a resolution. A task cannot be closed on someone’s word alone: Sentinel checks for the finished artifact, such as a sealed note, and escalates when it is missing. If a seat is empty, the alert goes to the next responsible person.
A chiropractor carries the care, the team and the books at the same time. You should not have to audit your own office at night to know it is sound. Sentinel keeps watch so your attention can stay with the patient on the table.
The full list
Everything Sentinel does today
- Checks the office every 15 minutes during the day.
- Flags visit notes left unsealed for about 3 hours and sends them to the doctor.
- Flags reports and care plans waiting on doctor approval: a card at 24 hours, an email at 72 hours.
- Tells the office manager when processing after a sealed note stalls.
- Tracks each claim from date of service to filing, with escalations at 7 and 14 days.
- Applies a 35-day filing default for PIP claims.
- Ages billed claims: office manager at 30 days unpaid; doctor or owner added at 60 days.
- Flags personal injury cases with no inquiry scheduled for 30 days.
- With an Office Ally feed, compares billed claims in the EHR against Office Ally: billed-not-sent and rejected with no follow-up.
- Daily cash check: cash that came in against cash handed to the doctor. Shows “matches” or the exact dollar gap, with one alert per different gap. The deposit slip is kept on file, not compared.
- Shows a green, yellow or red light for each person’s open tasks: green on track, yellow near its due time, red past due.
- Pre-fills the weekly close-out; the office manager or owner reviews and confirms it.
- Watches Digital CA: interrupted Brooke calls, failed actions, overdue callbacks, care plans with no booking work, booking records the schedule disagrees with.
- Routes each alert to the responsible role, emails the doctor, and covers empty seats with a fallback.
- Gives every item an owner, a history and a resolve step.
- Will not close a task on say-so; checks for the finished artifact and escalates if it is missing.
- Keeps a staff directory with roles and a 30-day scorecard per employee (personnel access required).
- Keeps an open-issues list of everything still unresolved.
- Monitors the health of ChiroUnchained services.
Coming
- Alerts when an outbound patient message fails to deliver.
- Deeper patterns on where the same problems keep repeating.
Who built it
ChiroUnchained was built by a practicing chiropractor. Dr. Brett Moss, DC, has been in practice since 1998, is a second-generation chiropractor, and built these tools in his own office, to fix the problems he lived with every day.