Let’s talk about confirming appointments. I’m confident we all have many tricks up our sleeves when it comes to confirming. I’m going to share some I’ve seen throughout the years, and perhaps you’ll learn a new trick to help you. I think we all will agree we feel accomplished when we can go home at the end of the day and know everyone is confirmed. It’s a big sigh of relief. I like to start the day by confirming patients by 9:30 am and confirming two days in advance.
According to Off the Cusp, 64% of people prefer text communication over voice communication. What do you do with the patients who won’t confirm in any fashion? E-mail, text, or call. What I’ve seen work for non-responsive patients is to send a text that says, if we don’t hear from you by 12:00 tomorrow you will forfeit your appointment. You’ll be surprised how many people will quickly respond. Honestly, there are probably less than a dozen people who you’d have to do that.
More than likely, some patients won’t utilize the texting communication platform to confirm their appointment. Additionally, we know there are usually one or two people who won’t confirm, and then we have the one or two we know always change their appointment at the last minute or don’t show up. A tactic that I’ve often used is to call them a few days or a week before and check in. You might say something like this, “Hey Bobby, I wanted to make sure we’re on track for your appointment next week. I know last time we had this appointment scheduled, you needed to change because of XYZ (normally, work or financial reasons).” This gives them a heads up by reminding them they have the appointment, allowing them to think about the time and financial commitment.
Another Last-ditch effort to enforce chronic short notice cancelations is to implement a no-show/short cancelation policy that states that patients will forfeit their appointments unless you receive confirmation. You can ask your chronic no-show, habitual short notice cancelations to sign this. If you feel awkward about having them sign it, include it when you ask them to update their health history or general paperwork.
