Taking care of ‘no-show’ problems
By Michelle Geller-Vino

How many of your patients would earn a “perfect attendance” certificate? While some practices experience a low rate of no shows, others experience rates as high as 70 percent.

No-shows lead to a loss of revenue, a waste of time, and a lot of frustration.

No one has an absolute cure for no-shows, but you can set goals to reduce the number of no-shows and implement a number of protocols which will lower your stress level while increasing your profit.

Here are steps to take:

1. Set expectations. You can help prevent the problem from occurring by setting the proper expectations. Give all new patients a “Chiropractic 101” briefing to discuss the importance of being on time and showing up for appointments.

2. Get patients involved. Patients can play a part in making sure they show up to their own appointments.

Ask patients to write down their appointment on an appointment card. This “assignment” makes patients “own” their scheduled time. If they see the appointment written in their own handwriting, they are more likely to acknowledge their appointment.

3. Ask the CA to repeat the appointment time. The front desk CA can also play a huge role in helping people remember their appointments. As the patient is walking out of the door, ask your CA to repeat the next appointment time by saying, “Good-bye, Mrs. Jones! We’ll see you next Wednesday at 3 p.m. sharp.”

4. Explain the importance of keeping appointments. As you give your report-of-findings, stress the importance of coming to all scheduled appointments.

5. Review office policy and procedures. After you have completed your ROF, turn the new patient over to your insurance CA and ask them to review together your office policy and procedures concerning appointments.

It’s best to have the policy written down.

To assure that the patient understands, consider asking the CA to initial and date the policy and asking the patient to do the same, by saying, “My initials show the doctor that I’ve discussed this with you. I’d appreciate your initialing it, too.”

6. Make reminder calls. As part of his or her regular duties, request your scheduling CA to call patients the day before their appointment as a reminder.

7. Place ‘I care’ calls. If a patient is more than 20 minutes late, the CA should place an “I Care Call.”

Instead of calling a no-show and saying “You missed your appointment, and we need to reschedule it,” the CA should ask, “Did we make a mistake on your appointment time?” or “Are you all right?”

The focus of the follow up call must be on the importance of the patient’s care plan and visitation schedule.

No practice is perfect, but you can move toward that direction by staying on top of your game. Be a good investigator and make sure your office operations are running according to plan.

Sometimes no-shows happen due to a simple glitch in operations and can be fixed in no time. If you set your goals to reduce the number of no-shows in a given week, it will result in higher revenue, better use of time, and less stress. Don’t make your goals your wishes, make them your reality.

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Michelle Geller-Vino, formerly president of MGV Marketing, has recently joined The Masters Circle as its director of marketing services. She specializes in training chiropractic assistants in marketing techniques and provides both group and one-on-one training. She can be contacted by phone at 800-451-4514, ext. 147 or by e-mail at mgv@themasterscircle.com.