When patients cancel or or forget their appointments, a highly productive day can turn into a day that’s only slightly better than just staying at home. Because frequent cancellations and “no shows” are costly, some optometry practices try to punish patients by charging them a “no show” fee. However, I think they end up losing in the long run.
Is there a way to stick it to the schedule busters?
Maybe, or maybe not. First, you need to consider these three things:
- Is your appointment reminder system efficient and effective for the patients you serve? SolutionReach has been effective for us. DemandForce and WebSystems3 also have good ones.
- Does your EHR track the number of N/S (No Shows) a patient has? Once patients hit two or three, schedule them in slower times of the day or double-book them at the end of the day.
- Find the source of the problem. If it is an entire family, fire the family. There are times when the relationship needs to be ended. For more information of this topic, check out Dr. Henry Cloud’s book Necessary Endings. Also, look closely for trends. Maybe your unreliable patients tend to be ones that have a certain type of insurance. If so, maybe it’s time to stop carrying that particular insurance.
Patients generally do not like paying for appointments they didn’t attend, so I would highly recommend that you do not charge for no shows. I believe far more damage is done than the small amount of money collected. Instead, use the above suggestions to minimize the number of cancellations and no shows, and decrease the negative effect on your practice.
