Eyeworld

I N THE PRACTICE Contact information Fishman: inessa.fishman@gmail.com Langdon: sara@parentingpod.com Weiner: smatthews@mergeworld.com by Liz Hillman EyeWorld Senior Staff Writer "If you get feedback or see trends that suggest you should adjust that timing, then you should. The other piece is to use patient prefer- ences for sending reminders. Ask patients what they prefer—text, email, phone. What language is best? Do they have a preference on timing? If a patient just wants one message the day before, adjust for that patient. This doesn't have to be one size fits all," Mr. Weiner said. This is an issue for all types of medical practices, so EyeWorld spoke with some doctors outside of ophthalmology. Inessa Fishman, MD, a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon who opened her own practice after 4 years as part of a group, offered a few strategies that work for her to reduce no-show rates: • Dr. Fishman's electronic medical record al- lows her to customize sending out automatic patient reminders 3 days and 1 day prior to appointments. • Call patients who have a past no-show his- tory. "I suspect the less personal emails and texts from the practice don't resonate with some patients," Dr. Fishman said. "I think a personal call is also best for new patients who have not been to our practice previously and need some additional explanation for direc- tions or what to expect about the visit." • Terminate routine violators. Rarely, Dr. Fish- man said she has had to terminate relation- ships with patients who violated clinic policies by not rescheduling in a timely manner or for not showing up. "I find it important to give plenty of warning and have a very frank H ow often do you remind your pa- tients of an upcoming appointment? According to a recent study, there is an optimum mode and method for timing appointment reminders to encourage attendance. The research by Solutionreach, a patient relationship management company, found that three messages—one sent more than a week before the appointment, one sent within the week of the appointment, and one sent the same day—increased confirmations by a total of 156%. No-show rates are significant and can fi- nancially impact practices, said Josh Weiner. "In vision practices, the average no-show rate is 20–25%. That translates to more than $200,000 a year in lost revenue per location," Mr. Weiner said. "Nearly 40% of those patients say it's because they simply forgot, which is totally preventable. Automated reminders can make a big impact." While reminders can reduce no-show rates by 30–50%, Mr. Weiner said "when done right," practices can get no-shows to less than 5%. Understanding what works for patients is crit- ical, he continued. People are bombarded with texts and emails, so making reminders targeted, relevant, and effective will not only help reduce no-show rates, it can help practices build rela- tionships with patients, Mr. Weiner said. Of the 20 million confirmation responses from 25,000 medical practices in Solutionreach's database, Mr. Weiner said they were able to track which reminders specifically resulted in the highest rate of confirmations. He clarified that this data does not confirm whether patients showed up (that's tracked by the practice), but he thinks confirmations do result in patients being far more likely to show up. The data showed that sending reminders 3 weeks, 3 days, and 3 hours ahead of appoint- ments was most effective. The research also identified what didn't increase appointment confirmations. For example, sending an ap- pointment reminder right after scheduling had no impact when that appointment was more than a month away. Effective reminders and other tactics to reduce no-show rates About the sources Inessa Fishman, MD Aviva Plastic Surgery & Aesthetics Atlanta Kim Langdon, MD Obstetrician/gynecologist, retired Parenting Pod Columbus, Ohio Josh Weiner President and chief operating officer Solutionreach Salt Lake City 56 | EYEWORLD | JULY 2019 "In vision practices, the average no-show rate is 20–25%. That translates to more than $200,000 a year in lost revenue per location. " —Josh Weiner

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