In “Best Ways to Deal with No-Shows,” Medscape Today, 07/14/09, Elizabeth Woodcock provides tactics on how to reduce no-shows and improve your practice’s bottom line:

•    Let the patient suggest the appointment time
•    Call to confirm upcoming appointments
•    Establish a priority list of patients who will come in if a last-minute opening occurs
•    Track offenders
•    Overbook
•    Charge patients who don’t call to cancel
•    Look within for the cause (Is your practice doing something to cause more no-shows?)

After flying all day from Europe, I once spent an unwanted night in snowy Denver due to overbooking. (A description of the overnight “Essentials Kit” provided by the airlines is probably fodder for another post.) That has soured me to the notion of overbooking forever. (Of course I don’t manage an airline or a medical practice either.) The rest of the tactics above, however, seem to make good sense.

The idea that no-shows can be reduced by having patients suggest their own appointment times is a new one to me, but it follows the logic that whenever someone participates in the decision making process, they have greater buy-in.

Woodcock recommends requesting that the patient call back to confirm an appointment. Reminder software can automate sending a confirmation by creating an appointment reminder call and then allowing the patient to press a number on the phone to confirm or cancel the appointment. Further, the patient can choose to leave a message or to have the call transferred and speak to someone live during business hours.

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