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Need ideas on how to handle these concepts Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
I'm using OmniFocus on the iPad, but am planning to get the Mac version soon.

My question is how to handle prescriptions. As you know there is x number of refills before a given date. There is the date written and the number of days worth of medication. You need to call in the refill before you run out but after the insurance company (if you are lucky enough to have one) will cover next month's cost. And you can't run out. And you will need to be reminded to call the Dr. to have the next prescription written. There are multiple medications and Dr's and it is complicated so no, getting 90 day supplies won't help.

An example question would be billing hours. Say you can submit billing anytime after Sunday 12:01 am (sooner is better) but must be done before Saturday midnight of the week following the two weeks you are billing for. You can see I'm getting confused.

You work x hours week one, x hours week two, and during the entire week three can submit for payment. This repeats every two weeks.

A similar item would be a task you can do anytime during the week but simply expires if not done meaning you could do the same task any time during the following week. How do you get this to appear as available early in the week so you don't have to have it pile up at the end of the week.

This all as opposed to something you do once every three months, and if you forget you will need to do three months after you remember.

I use forecast a lot and I have been working with learning the program but want to see how others would do any of the above. I would appreciate any help anyone wants to give.
 
If you're dealing with multiple very important medications, I'd create a whole project (of the Single Action type) just for medications and set it up to want reviews weekly.

I have prescription refill reminders set up with a start and due date and a "start again" 24 days after completion (for a 30 day Rx).
The thing I ought to add is a "ask doctor to renew Rx action" and set it for 50 weeks after I get a Rx renewed.
You'll probably want to tweak that exact number of days & months based on your experience with your prescriptions.


For the billing question, am I correct that you bill for weeks 1& 2 during week 3, and for weeks 3&4 during week 5, etc.?
I'd have an action that is "repeat every" 2 weeks. Set its start date to the beginning of week 3, and its due date to the end of week 3. When you check it off, it should show up again for week 5.

OmniFocus has no concept of a due action "expiring" at the end of a time interval. It will start to show as overdue. At that point, you can either mark it completed to generate the next occurrence, or manually edit the due dates of the overdue one to become the one for the next week. I need to take the trash out on Thursday night if I want it collected on Friday. So I have an action that's "repeat every" with no start date, and a due date of Thursday 11pm. (I could set a start date of Thursday 4pm, I suppose...) If I stumble across this task on Friday, I just check it off (too late to put out the trash, I just saw the truck go by) and the new copy will be due next Thursday 11 pm.

"if you forget you will need to do three months after you remember" sounds like a "due again" repeat cycle.

Anyone else want to chime in? I'm sure I missed something.
 
I'm not sure what to think of this. For something as intense as setting up a prescription routine, I'm pretty sure that I don't want this cluttering up my OmniFocus setup.

I tend to think of the prescription project as a routine that may be better suited for a calendar. I set up all of my alarms in my calendar program. I don't necessarily have to "check off" the task. This is almost like a meal routine. Set alarm clock for 6 AM to eat breakfast and my pills. Set another alarm clock for 12 noon for lunch and pills. Then set another alarm clock for 6 pm and pills.

I'll use the calendar alarms to remind myself to take my medication.

I save OmniFocus for big projects and single tasks that don't really have a daily routine schedule.
 
I was recommending a project for staying on top of refilling prescriptions. I don't manage actually *taking* my daily medication in OmniFocus either. I use the Due app on my iPhone to actually nag me to take pills, but I could accomplish the same thing with the built in iPhone app.
 
That was exactly what I was thinking of for managing prescriptions. The single action type isn't what I was using. Is that what you find yourself using most often? Your "start again" corresponds to my "start after" option? As "due again" is my "due after"?

You are correct regarding the billing. It does seem pretty straightforward.

I just need to delve into the whole repeat options, and in fact the single/parallel/sequential paradigm.

In your opinion, am I correct in thinking that using the desktop product may be easier than using the iPad version stand-alone? I know the perspectives feature isn't available to me but what else am I missing? (Besides a built-in keyboard<g>)
 
The differences between parallel projects and single actions are important to some, but pretty subtle. I personally prefer single action lists when there's no end to the project. I expect to be maintaining my medications indefinitely.

"Start again" is the label for the repeat option in on the Mac. It might be "start after" on the iPad, though we really should make those consistent!

Creating perspectives and viewing project-based perspectives are the main missing features from the iPad app. The Mac app also handles attachments more gracefully, and it is possible to run custom AppleScripts.

On the other hand, the Mac app doesn't have dedicated Forecast and Review views (yet!).
 
 


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