The path for profitability in a dental practice is time management. The more appointment you book the more opportunity there is to generate revenue for the practice. Timeis the medium and expertise is the product. However, as everyone in the medical and dental field knows missed appointments or patients that show up late can disrupt the most effective time management plans.  The goal for every Minneapolis and Minnesota dentist is to keep the appointment calendar and filled as possible and to minimizde missed appointments (non-billable time).  Although there are no 100% guaranteed ways to prevent cancellations and no-shows (let’s face it clients will always have legitimate issues, challenges or problems that preclude them from making their appointment). However, there are some basic things your office staff can do to ensure the appointment misses are kept to a minimum. These include:

1.  Business assistants must be proactive in identifying patients with a history of disappointment or late cancellation. Nondependable patients must be dealt with differently than dependable patients.
2. It is unacceptable to leave reminder messages for any patient who has a history of cancellation/disappointment or new patients. You must speak to these patients directly, even if it requires a call after regular business hours.
3. Do not allow patients with questionable dependability to preschedule hygiene appointments six months into the future. Send these patients a reminder card when it is almost time for their visit with instructions to call the office for an appointment. These patients provide a ready source of patients who can fill openings in the immediate schedule.
4. Do not use the phrase “confirmation call.” Consider the appointment confirmed when the patient gives permission to be placed in the schedule. Calls made prior to the appointment are “courtesy reminder calls.”
5.  During face-to-face contact, ask the patient if he or she would like a “courtesy reminder call.” If the patient says no, a reminder call is not needed. The business assistant can say, “Great; I’ll make a note of that. Thank you for being dependable.”
6.  Build a database of patient email addresses and offer email or text message reminders. Always ask your patients’ permission before sending text messages, as some incur additional phone charges and may not wish to receive texts. This is a strategy that many of our clients are currently using and it is an effective way to be “present” and proactive in communicating with clients.

Remember the key is to find a process for reducing the amount of cancellations your practice faces. The items listed above are merely strategies for staying ahead of problem situations. If you have idenitified an effective method for controlling this situation, please let is know. Foreman & Airhart is interested in hearing about your practice is doing.

Adapted from an article that appeared on Dentistry IQ. Edited and reprinted with permission.