Best practices to make sure your patients show up to their appointment

The patient appointment is one initial step that is crucial both for the patients and the practices. Patient appointments determine the time of the patients' reporting and appointment, which would further determine their satisfaction, and the course of the patient's journey. However, along with that, patient appointments and how they are scheduled are also critical to ensure the professional expertise of the medical practice, and its credibility.

Medical scheduling or patient appointments thus still remains a key area of focus for medical practices today. Though the patient booking system was not at all easy back in the era devoid of technology, patient appointment booking also took a whole new, revolutionary turn for good with the advent of technology and digitalization.

With the online doctor appointment system that is accessible to more and more patients, the overall standard of medical care is steadily climbing. Patient no-shows are one big complaint, nevertheless, for medical practices. No-shows are considerable losses that are incurred by physicians, medical clinics, and practices. Patient no-shows cost around $150 bn annually, as revealed in recent reports, in the US.

What are no-shows and why should they be reduced?

"No-show" is the term used for a situation when on a particular date of a patient's appointment, the patient doesn't turn up, nor did he/she leave any prior notice/information regarding the same.

The patients, when they don't turn up for a particular appointment, have numerous negative impacts, both on their health and the revenue and reputation of the medical practice. A missed appointment means the delay of the treatment and diagnosis for the patients, which might also take a worse turn later on. Besides, a patient no-show also detains other patients who might have been in acute need of urgent care.

The medical practices are also hugely at loss if they see more of patient no shows. Some of the major disadvantages of incurring no-shows for practices are:

• The practices lose their dedicated revenue for that particular appointment

• The doctors lose their valuable time

• The medical equipment booked for cannot be used

• Medical practices further lose time and resources invested on reminders

• Patient no-shows also cause staffing imbalances

• It might also delay other significant medical care and/processes

• Medical no-shows take a toll on the hard-earned reputation of medical practices

Along with the aforementioned disadvantages there are many other long-term impacts of patient no-shows both on the patients and the practices. Thus, patient no-shows can certainly be a nightmare for both the parties. So, it is better that they should be minimized in order to deliver quality, patient-first medical care.

If you are wondering about the best set of practices that your provider should follow in order to reduce patient no-shows, then you are here in the right place because we will help you stay aware of all of them, but first, let us get an insight into why these no-shows occur.

Why do patient no-shows occur?

Patient no-shows is one such situation that the patient doesn't attend his/her own medical appointment. Now, we all know that the medical care is important but why do the patients disregard their own appointments, and fails to turn up for them?

Here are some of the most prominent reasons due to which patient no-shows occur :

• Cost of healthcare - The overall cost of healthcare has drastically increased with the passage of years. The total spending in healthcare has increased to $4.1 trillion or $12,530 per capita, which was a 9.7% rise, when last reported in 2020. This growth rate is substantially higher than 2019 (4.3%).

• Other appointments - The date of patient appointment might clash with work-related or other appointments that the patient has. This might lead them to not turn up at their medical practice where there was an appointment scheduled.

• Better healthcare facility - Competition is one a rise even all the more when it comes to the healthcare industry. Patients now want better overall healthcare, which offers quality medical care along with minium hassles during the patient's journey. This means that the heathcare practices now need to be equipped with the latest and the most efficient patient and practice management system and software that would be convenient for the patients at a reasonable cost. GrowPractice is one of the most dependable provider of medical office software, patient and practice management systems that are affordable for both the patients and the practices.

• Lack of transportation - Many a times it has been found that the patients missed their appointments due to the lack of transportation/communication to their medical practice. Such instances often cause delays and might also lead to missed appointments without information.

• Absence of patient reminders - Lack of reminders after medical scheduling might be disastrous. It is common for the patients to forget their appointments, but the practices should help them remember and timely show up. Survey shows that around 57% of the patients expect getting automated text, voice, or email reminders from their medical providers' offices for appointments, scheduling them, taking medications, and more. With GrowPractice's efficient medical software systems, it has become a breeze now for the practices to send reminders and take followups duly from the patients.

Some other reasons for patient no-shows might involve fear of healthcare appointments, lack of trust, lack of hygiene, medical conditions and more. However, though patient appointments are still uncertain, making patient no-shows an inevitable fact, the medical practices can adopt the best practices still to ensure that the patients show up at their appointments.

Proven Practices to Make Patient Appointments Foolproof and Minimize No-shows

No-shows are very much a reality even today for the medical industry. However, they can certianly be reduced to a minimum.

Here is a list of the proven practices that will help medical providers bring down the patient no-shows:

Making patient appointment booking system smooth and convenient

The process of patient appointment booking should be convenient and hassle-free for the patients. With the introduction of the appointment scheduling software that the providers like GrowPractice are bringing in, patient appointment bookings are now being easier for the patients than it was ever before.

Over 43% of the patients rarely know the length of their appointments. So, along with the implementation of cutting-edge patient management software, the patients should also know of the length of their appointments. Knowing that would change the attitude of around 54% of the patients, as per reports.

Going for rescheduling than cancelling

Cancellation patient appointments should definitely be an option but that should come at the end. Before offering such an option it is mandatory for the medical practices to offer easy rescheduling of appointments. With GrowPractice, practices can now have medical appointment schedulers that offers patients and practices to book, reschedule and cancel appointments without hassles.

Opting for automatic online doctor appointment system

Booking patient appointments should be diligently done. This is why it takes skilled medical staff to perform the same. However, it takes a significant amount of time and dedication from the staff to take the patients through the scheduling process and book them successfully.

All of these can now become as easier than ever with the implementation of automatic patient scheduling software. GrowPractice is one of the most trusted patient and practice management solution provider that helps practices book patient appointment smoothly and effectively online, without the need of medical staff working on them. Along with helping the medical provders book, reschedule and cancel patient appointements, the GrowPractice solutions also help automatically fill-in the patient details for faster patient registration.

Offering multiple patient reminders

We have already discussed how important patient reminders are for the patients and the practices. The medical practices need to ensure that they offer several reminders for the patients. This will help them remember their appointments and reduce no-shows.

Communicating with multiple channels

With the expansion of digitalization it is important to note that people have a choice or a preference when it comes to digital mediums. Along with phone calls, we now have text messages (SMS), emails, and other messages on various social media handles.

According to the latest studies, 71% of the patients prefer to schedule their visits online and receive digital reminders rather than phone calls today. This demand for the digital reminders have dramatically increased over the past decade.

Therefore, while passing an information to the patients, the medical clinics/practices need to focus on different channels of communication, rather than sticking to one of them. The medical office software from GrowPractice support a diversified communication system, which would help the patients pick up important information and reminders from their medical provider and stay aware of them.

Granting rewards for patients turning up

Encouraging patients and suporting their determination to improve their health is a huge thing. Taking initiatives to support the patients who show up at their appointments and are therefore, careful about their mental and physical health is a great way to delight the patients.

The medical practices can try and bring up several offers, discount coupons, and concessions for the patients who arrive at their appointments right on time. This would not only motivate the patients to continue arriving at their appointments on time and not miss them, but also boost thei satisfaction too.

Offering self-scheduling methods

Patients can now schedule their appointments by themselves, without the need of an anyone else's interference. These are self-scheduling methods that are taking the medical industry by storm. Handing the power of booking appointments to the patients is an effective way to ensure patient first appointments.

Enabling two-way communication

The best communication is one that is two-way. Earlier the communication that existed between the patients and the practices was one-way, where the providers just used to send information to the patients. These one-way communications never helped the patient voice their opinions and worries.

GrowPractice understands that communication gaps may exist when it is one-way, which is why it extends the facility of two-way texting/communication, which will also allow the patients to join their providers and communicate with them easily.

Adding charges for no-shows is one another practice that the medical providers can take into account. This has more or less been a standard practice for years in the medical industry. Charging a fee against a no-show helps practices stay compensated for the time and money they will likely lose out on no-shows.

GrowPractice is helping practices stay booked and eliminate patient no-shows

Practice and patient management solutions from GrowPractice are boosting patient satisfaction, helping the medical practices achieve dream booking counts, and reducing no-shows to minimum. Patient retention rates have jumped by 48% for the practices using GrowPractice solutions.

Here's a list of a few benefits of the patient booking system offered by GrowPractice:

• Medical scheduling with GrowPractice is on 24x7

• It allows quick bookings, scheduling and cancellation

• It offers automatic booking methods

• It helps eliminate multiple bookings

• GrowPractice's appointment scheduling software offers multiple reminders

• It is fully digital and eliminates the use of paper

• It is accurate and helps streamline workflow

Don't worry anymore about your patients not turning up at their appointments because with Reach