Build Relationships and Stop No Shows
One of the biggest reasons for loss of revenue in the healthcare industry is patients not showing up for appointments. Every appointment has certain cost attached to it. The prep time of the staff, the idle time of equipment, not to mention the valuable time wasted of doctors. Furthermore, other patients have to bear the inconvenience of longer wait time and inaccessibility due to scheduled appointments. The solution to this common problem is surprisingly simple and involves timely communication and response with the patients.
Are No Shows Affecting Your Business?
Do you know that many patients honestly believe that, if they don’t turn up for their appointments, their clinics may appreciate the extra free time or will adjust the appointment with another patient easily? They are clueless about the damage control you have to go through by making phone calls to other patients who may or may not oblige by preponing their appointment. It is often that even the clinics do not appreciate the cost incurred when a patient does not show up. The cost of phone calls is obvious, but there are other expenses involved.
According to a study by a healthcare technology consultant, no shows cost each individual physician an average of $200 per unused slot and the US Healthcare System an average of $150 billion dollars per year. The cost included lab rescheduling, paperwork, labor etc. A BioMed Central Health Services study claims the average no show rate in the US is 19%. The study included community hospitals, primary care and subspecialty settings. The national average for no shows in private practice was over 20%.
There are long term implications to a missed appointment also. According to a study those who missed even one appointment were 70% more likely not to return within 18 months. According to the BMC study 47% of physician practices risk losing over $100 billion every year because of patient no shows. There is enough evidence to explain the fact that no shows are actually bleeding clinic revenues and there is a need to plug this bleed as soon as possible.
Why do Patients Miss Appointments?
It is not necessary that patients are deliberately not turning up for their appointments. Most patients when asked about the reason they did not turn up said that they had forgotten about their appointment completely. Patients usually get back to their busy lives and do not take their appointments seriously. Sometimes patients anticipate bad news and want to avoid such a situation. Others may even want a second opinion since they believe their conditions have worsened. So the reasons that patients do not honour appointments are usually simple and unfortunately they do not realize that they are affecting their own condition by failing to turn up at the right time. Neither do they realize that they are denying other needy patients the opportunity to receive timely care.
The most common reasons for patients no shows are :
Forgetting about appointments
Belief they need the emergency room because their condition has gotten worse
To escape hearing bad news
Misunderstanding appointment schedule because of language barriers
Socio Economic Factors
Not really concerned about skipping appointments
Do not understand the importance of the appointment
How Healthcare Providers Contribute to No Shows?
Almost every reason for patient no show given earlier can be avoided with effective communication. Interviews done by Annals of Family Medicine found that patients did not fully understand the consequences of not keeping their appointments. Patients also believed the staff will have free time and are probably happy when they don’t turn up.
Clinics and Physicians usually do not try to build relationships resulting in patients not really being concerned about skipping appointments. Though many clinics usually remind patients about their appointments and even explain the ramifications of missing an appointment, most have accepted no shows as inevitable. Clinics usually factor in the costs of no shows or compensate by overbooking. Both practices do not help the clinics in any way. Overbooking can lead to extended wait times for patients and overtime for staff.
Clinics and Physicians do not impress upon the patient that they need to turn up for the appointment or there are consequences not only to their own health, but the health of other patients and the workings of the clinic. A study in The Ochsner Journal found patients who feel that they have good communication with their doctor are more likely to be satisfied with their care, to follow advice, and stick to their prescribed treatment plan.
How to Reduce No Shows?
Creating a strategy to tackle no shows should be a priority since it will stop the leakage in revenue. At the same time no shows interrupt clinicians’ efforts to provide continuity of care. New processes and procedures need to be put in place to combat no shows. New technologies are easily taking the place of old processes to efficiently communicate with patients.
Contacting patients through their preferred mode of communication to remind them about an appointment date and time and giving them an easy way to cancel and reschedule will save clinics a lot of time and money. Today’s technology includes phone calls, texts, emails and social media.
A study by the Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Group found that no shows fell from 23% to 17% when patients were sent an automated appointment reminder. Adding empathetic messages will definitely build a relationship with the patients.
Patients who believe their healthcare providers really care are more likely to visit according to the given plan. However, doing 400 to 500 surgeries per year makes it difficult to follow up on each patient efficiently. Sending a reminder message or a phone call to ask about the patients’ well being increases the recall chances of your patients. It will also increase the chances of an appointment for patients who have cancelled but have not rescheduled.
Automation helps Clinicians do their Job Efficiently
Regular reminders not only help patients remember their appointments, but an option to cancel or reschedule also helps in efficiently giving other patients an opportunity to visit during the cancelled time slot. A National Health Services Survey in UK found that 91% of patients would accept a last minute scheduling of an appointment. Also, giving an option to confirm, cancel and reschedule gives the patient a sense of involvement in the process and increases their chances of keeping the appointment.
Automating processes can also help in the doctors’ form filling process leaving them with more time to spend talking to patients during their visit. Interactive chatbots can help patients list down their symptoms so that the right doctors can be referred to and doctors too can go over the list even before the patient visits them.
Among the many patients are those who need constant care. Despite best intentions of any healthcare clinic they will not be able to constantly interact with them all the time. Automation on the other hand is always available, even during non working hours. It can constantly monitor patients’ health, remind them of prescriptions and the time to take them.
Automated appointment systems help patients reschedule and inform wait listed patients that there is an opening for them to take advantage of. This system gives patients the advantage of knowing in advance that they can meet the doctor earlier than scheduled.
Patients need their questions answered. However, from the clinics point of view most of the questions are either routine or common questions. Automation can easily reduce the number of repetitive calls for similar questions.
Patient referrals is a big channel of increasing business. However, a successful referral can happen only when the patient experience has been smooth and satisfying. While automation helps in increasing patient satisfaction it can also ask for referrals through the patients’ preferred mode of communication.
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