Helping patients understand the importance of keeping their appointments
We need to be proactive to help patients understand the importance of keeping their appointments and to try to reduce no-shows.
And while your dental office may have a no-show policy already, it’s helpful to think about ways to reduce the no-show from happening in the first place.
It’s better to prevent a fire from occurring than having to put out a fire later.
Tips to help patients understand the importance of keeping their dental appointment
Primarily we need to personalize the communication.
We need to get to know the patient, and make sure:
- they know which provider they are seeing for their care.
- that they know the provider’s name.
Also make sure to let them know the provider’s looking forward to seeing the patient and that they’ve saved some time on the schedule just for that patient’s needs. And it could be used for another patient, but they’ve saved the time for them.
A new patient may respond well with a call from the provider ahead of the appointment just to introduce the practice, the provider, and to get to know the patient better.
Scheduling an appointment
Whenever scheduling an appointment, it’s good to let the patient know that this is an appointment time that’s been reserved just for you.
Let them know: “If you have a change in your schedule and are unable to keep this appointment, will you please call us in advance with a certain amount of time for us to change the appointment,” and then wait for their answer.
A patient who verbally commits to calling the office has demonstrated that they understand the importance of keeping the appointment and has committed to calling the office. They would be more likely to follow through and call in advance if the need arises.
The courage deposit
There’s also a group of patients who may have dental anxiety.
A lot of patients are nervous about coming into the dental office, and dental anxiety can be common.
These patients may need a longer appointment time so that the appointment’s not rushed and things can be explained and taken care of for the patient.
However, it can be a risk to schedule a longer appointment for an anxious patient.
Especially if that patient finds a reason not to show up and then all of that time is wasted if the patient isn’t there. Sometimes what we call a courage deposit may help, which is basically an opportunity for the patient to make a prepaid payment toward the treatment. That would be considered a non-refundable deposit that can be used towards the treatment, but then that deposit is lost if the appointment is broken and there’s a no-show. This financial commitment on the part of the patient to be there at that day and that time will help the patient to commit.Automated reminders
After appointments are made, it can help to send automated reminders in advance to the appointment to remind the patient. Send the reminder early enough so the appointment can be changed if needed.
Then perhaps another reminder text or email closer to the appointment time.
Just as a reminder, for large blocks of time, it may help to personally call the patient to confirm, especially if there hasn’t been a confirmation on the automated system.
Always make sure that patients know the time and the location of the appointment and also make sure the patient understands what the appointment is for and why that appointment is important for the patient’s care.
This information can help keep the patient motivated.
Be proactive in helping patients understand the importance of keeping their appointments and to try to reduce no-shows
Remind the patient that there is a no-show policy for the office because we do have other patients that could also use that appointment time.
We have staff who are reserving their time just for that patient, so we do need to have time to call another patient for that appointment slot if the patient is coming to the appointment.
If this patient’s not able to keep their appointment, we need to know in advance.
So the best thing is just to ask the patient, “will you let us know in advance of the appointment if there’s a problem for you keeping this appointment?”
Then wait for the patient to commit because that can be very powerful for the patient to keep their appointment.
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