Ever wonder how much a single no show takes away from your dental practice’s bottom line? Just one no-show per dentist each day can cost your practice $200,000 by the end of the year. Your best bet is to eliminate no shows by employing a few simple strategies.
Check out several ways you can cut no shows at your dental practices and keep income flowing.
Send Reminders the Patient’s Preferred Way
When a patient is new to your practice, ask them which communication method works best for them. Perhaps they want an email or text reminder rather than a phone call. Once you have that information, set up a reminder system and send appointment reminders in plenty of time to ensure they’ll confirm. For instance, some practices see success with reminding patients a month, a week, and a day before their appointment.
Get the Dentists Involved
Dentist-driven urgency can often mean more to patients than hearing about the importance of keeping appointments from the front office staff. If the dentist says “I’d like to see you at my next available appointment” or something along those lines, the patient may feel compelled to maintain that commitment.
Value the Patient’s Time So They Value Yours
The patient may be more likely to value your dental practice’s time if you consistently value theirs. Ensure their appointments don’t run late and that you get them in and out in the promised amount of time. Staff up appropriately so you don’t have to postpone appointments, and answer when they call.
Deploy a Loyalty Program
Loyalty programs can inspire patients to return over and over again. For instance, suppose they get a 30% discount off of tooth whitening for every three appointments they keep. Patients may be more likely to keep their appointments if they know they’ll get rewarded for it.
Keep a Backup List
Even if you use the strategies above, it’s likely that you’ll still face a cancellation here and there. To offset any losses you’d experience from those missed appointments, it can be helpful to keep a backup list of patients who want last-minute appointments.
When patients call and you can’t get them in for a long period, ask if they’d like to be called if someone cancels. Keep their name and number on a list, and then if you get a last-minute cancellation, contact them right away to see if they’d like to take the slot.
Slash your dental practice’s no show rate with insider tips from Kristie Kapp, RDH during her online training, Cut Dental No Shows: Keep Your Schedule Full & Revenue Flowing. Register today to make no-shows a thing of the past!
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The post Make Dental No Shows a Thing of the Past With Key Strategies appeared first on Healthcare Training Leader.