Skip to main content

How to Use the Active Patients in Period Report

A help guide on the Active Patients in Period Report and tracking changes in your patient numbers

Written by Lily Hunt

To find the report select Report Finder from the menu on the left hand side and either search using the report name or find the report under the Performance section.

This report tracks changes in the patient base over a selected period for one or more practices. It shows how many patients were active or lapsed at the start and end of the period, and what caused the change: new patients, returning patients, patients who lapsed and patients made inactive.

📝 Please note: Patients without an assigned dentist are only included if the "Provider Selection" is set to "Select None." Choosing specific providers will filter results to patients assigned to those associates.

What is an active patient?

A patient is considered Active if they have had a completed treatment within the past 24 months and have an active patient record on your practice management software from the selected date.

What is a lapsed patient?

A patient is considered Lapsed if their last completed treatment was more than 24 months ago and have an active patient record on your practice management software from the selected date.

What is classed as a completed treatment?

A service item is considered completed if it is marked as completed and has an appointment with a valid booked state within 2 days of the completed date. The appointment must not be cancelled or marked as FTA (Failed to Attend). A completed COT is not required, only a single completed service item. The appointment can occur up to 2 calendar days before or after the service item’s completed date.
​

What is an inactive patient?

A patient who has been made inactive on your PMS. Inactive patients are removed from the Active and Lapsed counts.

To generate the report

  1. Select Date Range: choose the start and end dates.

  2. Select Practice(s)

  3. Select Provider(s): selecting specific providers will only include patients assigned to those providers.

  4. Select Patient Scheme: All Schemes, NHS, Private or Other. The term “Scheme” means “payor” in this context.

  5. Click Create Report.

📝 Please note: The report runs in whole calendar months.

Summary cards

The four cards at the top of the report show the headline figures across all selected practices:

  • Active Patients (Start): active patients at the start of the period.

  • Active Patients (End): active patients at the end of the period, with the % change from the start.

  • Lapsed Patients (Start): lapsed patients at the start of the period.

  • Lapsed Patients (End): lapsed patients at the end of the period, with the % change from the start.
    ​

    Patient Base Movement in Period

    This chart shows what changed your number of active patients during the period, split into NHS, Private and Other:

    • + New: patients whose first completed treatment was in the period.

    • + Returning: previously lapsed patients who had a completed treatment in the period.

    • − Lapsed: active patients who became lapsed during the period.

    • − Inactive: patients made inactive on the PMS during the period.

    • Other changes: A balancing figure. It’s the difference between the actual change in active patients and what New + Returning − Lapsed − Inactive adds up to. It only appears when there is a difference, and it’s normally just a patient or two.

    • Change: the overall change in active patients. This is also shown at the top right of the chart.


      Active Patients, Start vs End, by Practice

    This chart compares the number of active patients at the start and end of the period. Use the Practice, Dentist and Hygienist buttons to switch between views.
    ​

The data table

The table breaks the figures down by patient scheme. The period being reported is shown above the table, e.g. Period: Sept 2026.

Table options

  • Search schemes: search for a patient scheme.

  • Filter: filter the table by Practice, Provider Type or Provider.

  • By Practice / Summary: By Practice shows a separate table for each practice. Summary shows totals for all practices.

  • Collapse All: collapse all practice sections. You can also collapse a single practice using the arrow next to its name.

  • Column Settings: Choose how the data in the table is displayed.

  • Manage Columns: choose which columns to show and drag them to reorder. Columns marked (Required) can’t be hidden. Use Show All to show every column or Hide Optional to show only required columns.

Each practice heading shows a quick summary for that practice: Active (Start), Active (End), New, Lapsed and Variance.

The Summary – All Selected Practices bar at the bottom of the table shows these figures totalled across all selected practices.
​

📝 Please note: Use the scroll bar to move right and view the entire report.

The information shown in each column

Patient Scheme: NHS, Private, Other and Total.

Total Patients at Start:

  • Active: patients not marked as inactive whose most recent completed treatment was within the last 24 months, as of the start of the period.

  • Lapsed: patients not marked as inactive whose last completed treatment was more than 24 months ago, as of the start of the period.

  • Scheme %: (Active + Lapsed for the scheme) ÷ (Total Active + Total Lapsed) at the start of the period.

Activity in Month:

  • New Patients: patients whose first completed treatment took place during the period.

  • Returning: patients who were lapsed at the start of the period and had a completed treatment during the period.

Lapsed:

  • Lapsed In Period: patients who were active at the start of the period but became lapsed by the end of the period.

  • Lapsed Rtn %: Returning ÷ Lapsed at start. This shows the percentage of lapsed patients who returned for treatment during the period.

Inactive – Patients Left Scheme (patients made inactive on the PMS during the period):

  • Prev. Active: patients who were active before being made inactive.

  • Prev. Lapsed: patients who were lapsed before being made inactive.

Showing inactive patients separately lets you see exactly how the end-of-period figures are worked out from the starting figures and the activity in the period.

Total Patients at End:

  • Active: active patients on the last day of the period.

  • Lapsed: lapsed patients on the last day of the period.

  • Scheme %: (Active + Lapsed for the scheme) ÷ (Total Active + Total Lapsed) at the end of the period.

Variance:

  • Patients: the change in Active + Lapsed patients, i.e. Total at End (Active + Lapsed) − Total at Start (Active + Lapsed).

  • %: Variance Patients ÷ Total at Start (Active + Lapsed).

💡 Top tip: Figures shown in blue are clickable. Click a value under New Patients, Returning, Lapsed In Period, Prev. Active or Prev. Lapsed to open the matching patients in the Patients List report in a separate browser window.

Printing, exporting and scheduling

  • To download a copy of your report, use the Export button [confirm formats].

  • Use the Print button to print the report.

  • To set up automation of the report, use the Schedule button.

Related Articles

Did this answer your question?