No-show patients can be costly to your practice in terms of both impacting your overall healthcare revenue cycle and productivity. When patients schedule appointments, that blocks out the time from another client booking that slot—so when nobody shows up for the time slot, you and your practitioners are left to fill the time how you each see fit.
Your holistic practice is there to deliver great care to the people in your community, so when patients don’t show up for their appointments and haven’t made any contact to let you know what’s going on with their schedule, it can be frustrating and costly.
If you find that your holistic practice is constantly dealing with no-show patients that affect your revenue stream and daily workflows, then try some of these tips below to help mitigate these unexpected absences.
The short answer: yes, definitely! No-show policies help you outline what constitutes a no-show patient, what options a no-show patient has to reschedule or cancel, and what consequences there are for repeat offenders.
Simply putting these components together into a document that is made available to patients, whether new or returning, can help your clients understand their role in keeping their appointment. Disseminating an email, having a notice on your website or scheduling software, and having a brief conversation over the phone, when relevant, clarifies what will happen if a patient misses their time slot; if patients don’t know that they have options to adjust their time slot, then they might be a no-show because they’re unaware!
A no-show policy doesn’t have to be an extensive document, but it should contain a few core parts that illustrate what your practice designates as a no-show patient and how the patient can proceed if they need to reschedule or cancel their appointment.
Consider adding these sections:
Determining a no-show policy for your holistic practice can save you a lot of headaches and better inform your patients of their options and responsibilities.
Let’s break down how much no-show appointments are actually costing your holistic practice.
For example, if each appointment brings in about $100 and you’re having a no-show once a day, then the math looks like this:
$100/day x 5 days a week = $500/week in lost revenue
Of course, substitute in the frequency and actual revenue per appointment that pertains to your holistic practice; regardless, no-shows are definitely costing you.
Going back to the example above, over the course of a year, your holistic practice is losing around $25,000. That’s a significant amount of revenue and that’s why addressing no-shows—with the help of a policy and a few tips below—is important to the financial success of your practice.
You can help keep the wheels of your holistic practice running smoothly with these tips to maximize productivity and minimize no-show patients:
Life happens, of course, so it’s not uncommon for your practice to have no-show patients. But having a conversation with them about why they missed their appointment can be a strong indicator of how your practice can help them in the future!
For example, if a patient says that they didn’t show up to the appointment and it’s because they didn’t have a convenient way of rescheduling on their own then that might lead to you considering implementing or changing scheduling systems. If a patient is only able to make or change their appointment via the phone with you, then that’s not going to be ample enough for people who might not have the time to call.
Alternatively, if a patient says that they simply forgot they had a slot booked with you, then that might mean you consider establishing or beefing up a reminder system for your patients. Automated software that texts, calls, or emails patients regarding their appointment times at a designated time can help keep your practice top of mind for them.
If your holistic practice is in a busy part of town that gets a lot of foot traffic, then consider implementing a walk-in availability schedule. Sticking a sign on the sidewalk or having a post in the window can inform people interested in holistic treatments that you’re available and keep your workflow going. This can help keep revenue flowing when appointments are no-shows and gives you the opportunity to attract new patients!
An automated reminder system will likely help the majority of your patients remember and confirm their appointment with your holistic practice, but if you notice that a handful of patients seem to be late or are frequently forgetting their appointments, then a personal touch might make all the difference.
It’s one thing to see a message or get an automated call to remind the patient of their slot, it’s another thing to directly hear from you about it. Adding that personal touch to your patients’ experience reflects favorably and demonstrates how much you care about delivering a great experience.
Your patients are your top priority—but if you find yourself swamped with mountains of medical coding and billing paperwork, rejected claims, and a neverending headache from trying to keep up with new regulations, then it might be time to partner with a medical billing firm!
The experts here at Holistic Billing Services have experience in your specialty and we’re eager to help your practice succeed so you can focus on what matters most: your patients.
At Holbie, we offer complete and innovative Holistic Billing Services for acupuncture, massage therapy, and chiropractic providers.
At Holbie, we offer complete and innovative Holistic Billing Services for acupuncture, massage therapy, and chiropractic providers.
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