Cancellations, No Shows and Other Plights of the Business Team

Is there anything worse for those working in the business office of a dental practice than the ever-dreaded day of broken appointments and no-shows?  Nothing can make a perfectly good morning go sour than checking a voice mail full of cancellations at 7:45 a.m. 

It's virtually impossible to completely rid yourself of this situation, but there are ways to lessen the blow and perhaps create a safety net when the bottom falls out of your perfectly scheduled day.

1. The Effective Confirmation Call. More often than not you don't get the opportunity to talk to your patients when making confirmation calls. Funny how you always seem to get voicemail isn't it? So it's even more essential that your verbal skills when making this call are powerful and effective.

Using the doctor's name throughout the call gives the call some authority and the verbal skills of sharing that the doctor has reserved a certain amount of valuable time just for them makes them feel the importance of the appointment.  Making these calls two days before the appointment gives you ample time to track down your patients and to fill that time if the patient scheduled can't make their appointment.

Make sure you try your best to reach your patients and get a verbal confirmation from them.  Try their home phones, cell phones, whatever it takes.  If you have a tech-savvy patient base, consider using a company such as Sesame Communications and send your confirmations via text message or email - these days this can be just as effective as a phone call.

2. Avoid the voicemail trap! Make sure your practice voicemail message informs callers that it does not accept cancellations; that they must call during office hours. This can prevent those painful messages and gives you the opportunity to prevent the cancellation or at least reschedule the patient for another day. A voicemail cancellation is one more appointment you have to chase - often without success.

3. Schedule Appointments Face to Face. Make sure you have a patient checkout system in place that involves scheduling the patient's next appointment while they are in the office. With a little practice, this will flow just as easily as accepting their form of payment. Every patient should leave with an appointment card. This way, they have committed to that day and time face to face and have acknowledged their availability. No more chasing them down by phone, trying to get commitments by playing phone tag. A well-run checkout system in your practice can lead to improvement in time management, efficiency and productivity. Next thing you know, your schedule is filled to production goal!

 Here's the bottom line:  Communication is the key to success when it comes to scheduling appointments and having patients KEEP their appointments.  And, the only way to get better at communicating is to practice, practice, practice!