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How to Document a Client Contact or Contact Attempt for Non-Clinicians

To effectively track non-clinician interactions, counties should utilize this workflow for documenting attempts to contact a client a for their initial appointment, reminder calls, cancellations or similar scenarios. This can be done using the Contact Notes list page. 

Note: You can continue to use the Comment field in the Service Note for reminder calls, documenting cancellations, etc,.  

Limitations:

  • These list pages are protected by CDAG, meaning you can only see contact notes for the programs associated with your logged-in CDAG.
  • Note that “Program” is not currently displayed on the list pages or available as a filter. CalMHSA is not currently pursuing adding this functionality to these list pages. 

Accessing the Contact Notes List Pages:

  • Use the “Contact Notes (Client)” list page for records associated with a specific client.
  • Use the “Contact Notes (My Office)” list page for records across all clients.

Creating or Viewing a Contact Note:

  • To create or view a contact note, click on the desired record or create a new one. This will take you to the Contact Note Detail Screen.

Two Tabs on the Contact Note Detail Screen:

  • Contact Note Tab: This is where most of the information will be entered, including details about the contact or the attempt to contact the client.
  • RWQM Tab: This is for Revenue Work Queue Management functionality and is not typically used unless specified for revenue-related purposes.

How to Complete the Contact Note

  1. Navigate to a Contact Notes list page by one of the methods above.
  2. Click the New icon from either the list page or from the Contact Note screen from a previous note.
  1.  Complete the following fields:
    1. The Contact Date and Time fields will automatically populate to today and now, but they may be changed if you need to back-date a contact.
    2. Select the reason for the contact.
    3. Select the type of contact made.
    4. Select the status of this contact record.
      • Scheduled – plan to make a contact (e.g. will call client on Friday)
      • In Progress – contact record is not yet complete (e.g. I’m still documenting about this contact)
        • If you are leaving it in this status, when the note is finished, click the Save button and you can return to it to continue documenting on this same note.
      • Error – contact record was created in error
      • Complete – contact record has been completely documented; if this is selected when saved, the record will be locked from editing
    5. Enter the individual or organization contacted.
    6. Select the program for which you’re making the contact for. This is a required field.
    7. Select the details of the contact, if desired.
    8. Enter the description of the contact or contact attempt.
    9. Note: We do NOT recommend using the “Notify Team” functionality, as this will alert ALL members of the treatment team, regardless of program or CDAG.
    10. Note: You may use the “Notify Staff” functionality, but be aware that this will alert the staff user regardless of program or CDAG. Please note that this message will abide by client access rules, so if a staff user is not allowed to see a client in SmartCare, they will not receive this message. Every time this record is saved, the user in question will receive a message.
  2. When you have finished documenting the contact or contact attempt, change the status to Complete.
  3. Click Save. This will lock the record.
  • Last Updated: April 3, 2025