Articles

Confirming patient appointments and filling open time-slots are crucial to the success of any dental practice. However, staff members can spend anywhere from a few hours each day to an entire day calling patients to confirm their appointments. This task not only is time-consuming for staff members, but it also can become an enormous expense for the practice if one staff member does nothing but make reminder phone calls.

Patient no-shows have long proven to be one of the most persistent challenges a growing practice must face. A team from the University of Nebraska Medical Center recently found that "the size of the problem varies, but an average of 42% of appointments become no-shows." How does that compare to your practice? Higher than you've experienced? Or maybe that's too conservative of an estimate?

Healthcare providers are busier than ever, and it is becoming increasingly important to communicate with patients both efficiently and effectively. Timely technologies continue to have the greatest effect when contacting patients. SMS, or text messaging, provides a cutting-edge way for healthcare providers to reach their patients with reminders of upcoming appointments.

Healthcare organizations of all sizes have always struggled to reduce no-shows among patient visits. When patients fail to attend their appointment or forewarn their healthcare provider, valuable time and revenue are lost. However, recent technological advances are making it easier for practices to improve their no-show rates. Statistics show that automated telephone appointment reminders are having a positive impact on healthcare industry no-show rates throughout the country.