Do Not Pre-Schedule Every Patient for Recare
So many practices are on automatic and take little time to evaluate a patient before scheduling appointments. This adds to the broken appointment problem.
I’d like to see practices look a bit closer before pre-scheduling recare appointments 3, 6 or 12 months in advance. If a patient has a history of no shows or same day cancellations, they should not be allowed the privilege of pre-scheduling their recare appointments.
Many practices complain about the number of pre-scheduled patients that no show. I recommend that they be on guard and stop scheduling repeat offenders. Inform the entire team.
These patients are still educated on the importance of regular recare visits and they are informed that they will be receiving a card from the practice when it is time to call for an appointment. Once they contact the office, try to get these folks in as soon as possible, no later than seven days away, to prevent additional broken appointments or you can put them on a short call list.
Happy Scheduling!!!
