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Appointment cancellations pose a challenge for most practices, and no-shows are even worse. But what if you could minimize both? Enter patient reminders: These automated texts, emails and phone calls remind your patients of appointments they might otherwise miss, thereby encouraging attendance or, if necessary, postponements. They also save your front-office staff time. Read on to learn all about how and why to use patient reminders.
A patient reminder is an automated text, email or phone notification that informs patients of upcoming appointments. Patient reminders also may ask patients to confirm appointments they’ve previously scheduled. These reminders are increasingly popular substitutes for having your front-office staff call patients to confirm their attendance as appointments approach.
The process begins when your front-office staff adds a patient to your calendar in your practice management system (PMS). For your employees, the process ends there; the PMS handles everything else. Adding a new appointment to your PMS triggers the automatic sending of a patient reminder a preset number of days before the appointment.
Here are a few of the many reasons practices of all sizes and specialties have implemented patient reminders:
The power of patient text reminders is clear, but there are a few ways you might accidentally limit that power. Follow these best practices for texting patient reminders to ensure your text reminders are effective:
Among our top medical software picks, we recommend these electronic health record (EHR) systems for sending patient reminders:
It’s easy to overlook the power of a text or email, but in reality, quick communications reminding patients of appointments create a win-win situation: Your practice minimizes missed appointments, and your patients don’t miss important medical check-ins. Plus, with medical software, patient reminders are usually automatic. Put your software to work, and watch your patients show up on time.