According to an estimate, patient no-shows cost $150 billion in the United States each year. A single 60-minute unscheduled time can cost you around $200. Nearly 30% of all scheduled appointments result in no-shows and this is something alarming and cannot be ignored. Patient no-shows are not just an inconvenience, they can quickly hit your bottom-line. You should look for some ways to limit patient no-shows.

Following are the top 5 tips and tactics to decrease patient no-shows in your practice.

APPOINTMENT ALERTS

Most of the practices place a phone call or use Appointment Reminder EMR software to remind patients of their upcoming appointment. This is without a doubt great for patients who prefer this method of communication. But in order to make your appointment reminder process more efficient and effective, you must know what works best for the patients. You should have your front desk staff ask patients to provide their preferred method and use it accordingly.

Some practices also offer the option to confirm or cancel an appointment through text message when the patient is unable to make it due to any reason. This assists to remind them in the way they are likely to reply and makes it easy for them to cancel immediately. This type of easy contact for patient-physician engagement has been proved very effective and has drastically decreased no-shows.

RESPECT PATIENT’S TIME

You should always respect the time of your patients. Everyone is busy these days and waiting for hours can make anyone really unhappy. Start by doing all you can to keep your wait times to a minimum. This lets your patients know you value their time and keeps them engaged and coming back. The last thing you want is to decrease patient retention due to scheduling issues.

Tools like telemedicine video visits, online patient intake, online appointment setting, and easy-to-use patient collections solutions all help to reduce waiting room traffic. Another way to respect your patient’s time is to get them into an appointment quickly. The longer they wait between scheduling and actually coming to see you, the higher the risk of them forgetting about the appointment.

PROVIDE PREPAYMENT FACILITY

You should allow your patients to pre-pay for the appointments by Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software. This gives them incentive to show up for their appointments because they have already made a financial commitment. One way you can encourage this is to offer a small discount to those who opt to pre-pay for appointments. This method of pre-payment using Billing Services EMR software could also be an added benefit to uninsured patients, which make up 12.2% of the total population of the United States.

ALWAYS SET EXPECTATIONS

It is possible that patients do not even realize the added cost you incur if they do not show up. While you obviously aren’t going to tell them the exact costs, it’s smart to mention that they exist. One way to do this is by making your expectations known through your cancellation policy. Make sure each patient has reviewed it in the Patient Portal EMR software and signed it and have easy access to it should they have any questions.

REACH OUT TO THE PATIENTS

Your patient may not have meant to miss their appointment, so give them the benefit of the doubt. Reach out with a simple message via their preferred method of communication to let them know you are sorry you missed them at their appointment and request that they call to reschedule. You can also use this communication to remind them of your missed appointment policy and any extra fees that may be added to their bill.