Why Does a Ship-to-Patient Order Show as "Complete" Before My Patient Receives It?

Ship-to-patient orders in Otto are automatically marked Complete when they are sent to the supplier for delivery — not when the patient physically receives the package. This is expected behavior and does not mean the order was cancelled or lost.

When an order is dispatched directly to a patient's address, Otto sets the status to Complete with a future estimated completion date based on typical delivery timeframes. This means:

• An order can show Complete while it is still in transit
• The completion date shown is an estimate, not confirmation of delivery

This is different from in-office pickup orders, which only move to Complete after your team manually confirms receipt.

Disable Auto-Completion
If you want to disable the auto-completion and manually close out each order, you can do that under settings:

1. Go to the Settings tab in Otto (if you do not see this option, you are likely signed in using an account that does not have full access)
2. Click Preferences and scroll down to "Automatically Close Out Ship-to-Patient Orders on Processing"
3. Click "No" then hit the blue "Save" button at the bottom of the screen.
   
   

If a patient contacts you saying they have not received their order yet:

1. In the Orders module, locate the order (change the status filter to All Orders if needed)
2. Click the ▼ arrow to the left of the order ID to expand the order row
3. Review the confirmation number and tracking information on the right side of the expanded row
4. If a tracking number is present, click "View Details" to check directly on the courier's website for a real-time delivery update
5. If no tracking is available in Otto, log in to the supplier's portal using the supplier confirmation number to check shipment status

You can send tracking details directly to the patient from within Otto:

1. Expand the order row and click View Details
2. Click Send Tracking
3. The patient will receive a notification with their tracking link
4. Once sent, the Send Tracking button becomes inactive — confirming it was sent to the patient's preferred method of communication (SMS or Email).

Note: If the order was batched with other patients' orders under one Purchase Order, the PO may contain multiple shipments. You can see this by clicking the colored status bar after expanding the order. You may want to avoid using the "Send Tracking" feature on ship to office orders.

• Ship-to-patient orders auto-completing is by design — it does not indicate an error
• If a patient confirms non-delivery after the estimated completion date has passed, contact the supplier directly with the supplier confirmation number
• Otto support can assist if there is no tracking information available and the supplier cannot locate the shipment

If tracking information is missing, the carrier shows no record of the shipment, or the supplier has no record of the order, contact our support team at help@ottooptics.io or use the live chat inside Otto.