“Most practices don’t even know what their no-show rate is.”
This comment was said by Nick Fabrizio, a principal with the MGMA Health Care Consulting Group. If you are nodding your head because you’re not sure about the no show rate at your practice, don’t fret. For those of you who know the percentage of patients that no-show to your practice, you are a step ahead.
Knowing the rate of no-shows to your practice helps to better track the appointments you schedule. It helps you decide when/if you decide to overbook certain days or times. Lastly, it aids in creating an action plan for how your employees handle patients that don’t show up for their scheduled appointment.
Reduce no-shows to your practice with these 5 EASY tips…
Tip #1: Create a No-Show Policy (if you haven’t already) – Create a no-show policy to inform patients of the implications of not showing up to an appointment. Notably, those patients not providing adequate time for the practice to schedule another appointment can seriously affect your bottom line. Perhaps, you decide that after three violations the patient pays a penalty fee, or after five they incur charges.
Tip #2: Automated Appointment Reminders – Don’t let your employees feel bogged down with weekly appointment calls. eSERVICES like AutoRemind for MicroMD PM software allows you to schedule a workflow to send reminder calls, texts, or emails to your patients.
Tip #3: Optimize Your Scheduling – Schedule patient appointments according to how much foot traffic your office experiences on each day of the week. A great strategy is assigning appointment times at less crowded hours to frequent no-show offenders. This helps to provide consistent patients with the peak appointment times, instead of scheduling those who periodically miss their appointments.
Tip #4: Thank Patients Who Attend Scheduled Appointments – Thank those patients who always attend their scheduled appointments. This includes those that are always early, those who arrive on time, and those who call when things interfere. Most of all, thank those patients who frequently no-show for arriving on time when they do. A bit of gratitude goes a long way.
Tip #5: Consider Public Transit Routes – Depending on your location, a majority of the patients you see may have to take public transportation to your practice. Be mindful of this, and reference the published schedules for bus, subway, and train arrivals. Ensure that you’re not scheduling patients at a time they cannot possibly make without finding an alternate ride.
How does your practice prevent no-shows? Have you implemented any automated reminder services to help streamline communication processes for your medical practice?
For more information on how MicroMD can help reduce no-shows to your practice, visit micromd.com or call 1-800-624-8832.
About the author,
Savanna Adams
Savanna is the Marketing Communication Specialist at Henry Schein MicroMD. She schedules emails to clients, prospects, and VARs, manages social media accounts, performs research, writes blogs and eBooks, and much more while helping to support the simple yet powerful MicroMD solutions.
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I like your tip to create a no-show policy for patients to help them understand the implications of not showing up to an appointment. I have been thinking about going to a doctor soon for my back problems and I need one that takes itself seriously. I will make sure to keep this information in mind as I search for a quality practice.