Make sure your patients’ summer plans include you

Who doesn’t love summer? It’s time for families to get outside and enjoy some fun in the sun. Unfortunately, it’s also the time many practices see an increase in failed appointments. When patients fail appointments, you’re temporarily unemployed. I’ve found that one unfilled $200 hygiene appointment over an average of 210 days of production loses $42,000 for a practice. Operative appointments at an average of $500 an hour over 210 days are another $105,000 in lost production. So the costs of no-shows and cancellations to a practice are huge.

Minimizing no-shows and cancellations during summer begins when patients are diagnosed and appointments are made, and by turning cancellation calls into confirmation calls. All of this requires exceptional verbal skills because how your team schedules and confirms appointments can impact whether or not a patient cancels.

Failed appointments often happen when appointments are made

I’ve found that patients need to hear things three times and feel motivated in order to comply with your desire for them to make appointments, whether it’s for operative or continuing care. Let’s start with hygiene. When the hygienist is finished with a patient and ready to make the next appointment, it’s important to know whether that patient is a good candidate to preschedule. Some patients travel a lot, work irregular shifts, or have unpredictable schedules. If a patient is a good preschedule candidate, say, “Miss Jones, I see that you came in today at ten o’clock. The next two Tuesdays that I have available in the next six months are August 8 at ten o’clock or August 15 at two o’clock. Which of those works best for you?”

Don’t ask if the person wants to schedule or what time of day is preferred. Let patients know what you have available and expect them to comply. If a patient is not a good preschedule candidate, say, “I see that you’ve got a really busy life and you’ve had to change your appointments a few times. What we’ve found works best is to send you a notice a couple of weeks before you’re due so you can call to schedule your appointment. How does that sound?”

For operative appointments, it’s important to communicate a sense of urgency. This can be done during the handoff. For example, the doctor or clinical team can reinforce the patient’s desire for care at the end of the examination. “Mr. Jones, I know you must be interested in fixing this tooth as soon as possible to avoid further discomfort or damage. Let’s go talk to Lois and see what appointments she has available that would work with your schedule.” For the handoff to the scheduling coordinator, say, “Lois, Mr. Jones is ready to get that crown started. I told him he was going to need two appointments and that you would answer any questions he may have about the flexible financial arrangements.” This type of handoff helps patients commit to scheduling.

Failed appointments often happen during confirmation communications

When you contact patients to remind them of their appointments or to confirm their appointments, you can inadvertently prompt them to fail because it opens the door for them to cancel. Instead of reminding or confirming, let patients know you are merely informing them and assume they’re going to show. “Mrs. Smith, we’re calling to let you know you’re on the doctor’s schedule tomorrow at nine o’clock. We’re looking forward to seeing you.”

If the patient has previous failed appointments and you want to make personal contact to ensure the person will show up, ask the person to call you back because you have important information to share about the upcoming appointment. That information could be about traffic, weather, or current promotions, anything that creates curiosity. It can be something like “We’ve got a weather front coming in, so make sure you take a little extra time to get here,” or “There’s construction on I-70, so make sure you allow a little extra time to get here,” or “Tomorrow’s our anniversary, so we’re giving out free $5 Starbucks cards.”

Appointments can be saved during the cancellation call

Every effort should be made to save an appointment by uncovering the barrier. During summer, patients often prioritize other activities, such as vacations, graduations, and reunions, above their dental appointments. To learn the barrier, ask, “Is there anything we can do to help you keep this appointment?” If they say, “I’m going on vacation in a few weeks,” ask, “Why would your vacation in a few weeks cause you to cancel your appointment tomorrow?” Often, when there is an out-of-pocket investment, money could be the real issue. That’s when you can let them know they can have both the trip and the appointment by introducing flexible financial arrangements.

I’m a big fan of payment at or before the time of an appointment. For example, if a patient is having a crown and it takes two appointments and the person wants to pay in two payments, the person pays half at the scheduling and half at the prep. I also encourage practices to display a framed and matted sign that reads, “Ask about our flexible financial arrangements,” and shows all the options—cash, checks, credit cards, and the CareCredit card. When patients say, “Do you take payments?” say, “Absolutely. We’ve got a partnership with a financing company that allows our patients to make low, flexible, monthly payments that fit within their budgets.” When you use a financing program or collect prior to an appointment, you’ve effectively eliminated that barrier before it even becomes one.

When patients still want to cancel, don’t make it too convenient for them to reschedule. This way they’ll rethink and often keep their appointments. Ask patients if they want to reschedule and offer two appointment options four to six weeks out. Many times they’ll say, “What? You can’t get me in for four to six weeks?” When you respond, “I know. We’re so busy. But if I get a change in the schedule and an earlier appointment becomes available, I’ll give you a call.” Some patients may reprioritize their schedules and keep the appointment. If they don’t, do not offer an immediate open appointment. Place them on your priority list, which is not a list of all patients who need to come in for hygiene or incomplete care, but is only for people who have told you that if you get a change in your schedule, they will come in. Here’s the caveat: if you call a patient twice and they say no two times, take them off the list.

Of course, you can’t eliminate no-shows and cancellations entirely, but I’ve found you can get them down to less than 5% of your schedule time. As a last note, when open time does occur, use it wisely. One way is to make sure the entire team has healthy and beautiful smiles so you can show off the doctor’s clinical skills to patients. That’s great word-of-mouth marketing.

Lois Banta is CEO and founder of Banta Consulting Inc. (bantaconsulting.com) and the owner and CEO of the Speaking Consulting Network. Banta Consulting specializes in all aspects of dental practice management. Banta has over 40 years of dental experience. To contact her for a personal consultation or to invite her to speak to your organization, call her at (816) 847-2055, write to her at 33010 NE Pink Hill Road, Grain Valley, Missouri, 64029, or email [email protected].