Why does your patient schedule an appointment and not go?
The typical problem for nutritionists is that patients schedule an appointment and do not show up to your office. Here we tell you how to do it.
This question was the first doubt I encountered during my first months of starting my private practice. Obviously the “no-show” of patients is an old and complex problem. It is estimated that each year about 3.5 million patients cancel or do not arrive for their scheduled appointments. This is equivalent to several billion dollars in losses within the healthcare industry. From the patient’s point of view, the reasons are sometimes understandable. And these are some of the main reasons why they don’t make it to the appointment: Traffic, an unscheduled meeting, work piled up, etc. However, another quite common cause is that the agreement on the day and time of the consultation does not go beyond verbal. Therefore, the patient ends up not perceiving a real commitment. On the other hand, we have the point of view of the doctor, who generally delegates and trusts his assistant with the responsibility of making appointments. In this case, the health professional considers that his assistant is doing everything within his power. However, it is a common practice that days before the assistant is glued to the phone trying to confirm the appointment with the patient. What has surprised me personally is the lack of technological support with which this fundamental process occurs. According to various studies, more than 85 percent of patients would be willing to receive an email or some other type of confirmation. Therefore, if you are a doctor, I would recommend that you start, starting today, using any of the technological options that exist. * Some apps even use portals where the patient themselves can enter and select their next consultation. Some tools that serve this objective are:
Google Calendar
· Advantages: Free and easy to use. · Disadvantages: Not very efficient for doctors, as it does not integrate medical assistants
Slack
· Advantages: It is not merely a calendar, so you can begin to build a community with your patients. · Disadvantages: It is complex to understand at first, both for doctors and patients.
Nimbo X
· Advantages: Free in its basic version. It integrates the doctor’s agenda and connects it with that of assistants. Send appointment reminders via email and SMS to patients. · Disadvantages: You may already have a clinical record currently. These can be options so that the patient receives some notification when scheduling an appointment. Another reason why the px schedules an appointment and doesn’t go is because he didn’t like your service, he didn’t get the results he wanted. If this is the case, you can visit the blog to win back your dissatisfied patients. **I give you 4 Key Practices to grow your practice but these classes will only be FREE today. CLICK here
