Patient reminders can help reduce no-shows and late arrivals, but it’s time-consuming to call each patient and remind them about their upcoming appointments.
That’s where automation comes in: Avoid the lost revenue, inefficient use of resources and longer wait times that no-shows and late arrivals cause without that manual work by implementing digital patient reminders.
Appointment reminders make it easier for patients to remember when they’re scheduled to visit your organization and take the necessary steps to prepare for their visit. And by leveraging technology, healthcare organizations can send these reminders automatically, freeing up staff time and increasing patient engagement.
Read on to explore the benefits of automated patient reminders and the factors to consider when choosing appointment reminder software.
Challenges of no-shows and late arrivals
No-shows and late arrivals significantly reduce revenue, increase wait times for patients, and add unnecessary work for administrative staff. Late arrivals can also disrupt providers’ schedules, leading to a domino effect of delays and inconvenience for everyone involved. And the problem isn’t going away: In 2022, a Medical Group Management Association report found that about half (49%) of medical groups’ patient no-show rates increased since 2021, while 39% of groups’ rates stayed about the same.
Plus, no-shows and late arrivals can hurt the patient experience. When providers push appointment times to accommodate late arrivals, patients must spend more time in the waiting room and may become frustrated. This dissatisfaction can affect your healthcare organization’s reputation and even make patients less likely to return for future visits.
Additionally, no-shows and late arrivals can increase the workload for administrative staff. When patients fail to show up for their appointments, staff must scramble to fill the empty time slots. That can increase stress and even contribute to burnout—a major problem across the healthcare industry.
The hard work to reschedule no-shows doesn’t always pay off, either: Patients who no-show are less likely to return for care, with just one no-show increasing the likelihood of attrition by almost 70%, according to Athenahealth research. The best strategy is to avoid those no-shows in the first place.
Automated patient reminders: How they work
You can use technology to automate sending emails, text messages or prerecorded voice calls to remind patients about their upcoming appointments. These messages include important information such as the date, time, and location of the appointment, as well as instructions on how to prepare for it.
Automated appointment reminders can be dispatched at any time—even when your office is closed—ensuring your patients receive the information they need when they need it. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for those with hectic schedules who may be unable to answer a staff member’s reminder call during business hours.
Best of all, patients can confirm, cancel, or request to reschedule their appointments directly from the reminder message. That engagement helps you avoid gaps in providers’ schedules because when staff know in advance that an appointment slot will be open, they can proactively fill it.
Automated appointment reminders also improve the overall patient experience. By delivering timely and pertinent information, reminders can keep patients more engaged in their care journeys.
Benefits of digital appointment reminders
No-shows cost the U.S. healthcare industry billions of dollars each year. Reminding patients about their upcoming appointments can reduce no-shows, helping your healthcare organization avoid that loss of revenue.
In addition to protecting your financial health, digital appointment reminders can easily accommodate patients’ communication needs. Automated workflows help you send these messages through a patient’s preferred channel, be it a text message, email, or automated phone call, and in their preferred language. That customization makes it more likely that patients will engage with reminders—and that they’ll arrive on time for their visits.
Appointment reminders also help streamline provider schedules. No-shows waste time for healthcare professionals whose busy schedules could have been filled with caring for other patients, and cutting down on them helps maximize clinicians’ working hours. Ensuring more patients arrive on time allows providers to keep their schedules running on time, which enhances organizational efficiency and keeps wait times low.
The greatest benefit of these reminders? They’re effective: When parents of pediatric patients received a text message in addition to a phone call reminder, no-shows dropped by more than 14%, according to a 2016 study in the American Journal of Pediatrics.
Factors to consider when choosing patient reminder software
If you’re ready to select a patient appointment reminder software for your healthcare organization, be sure to consider the following factors and features:
- System integration. The software you choose should seamlessly integrate with your organization’s electronic health record (EHR) to avoid data silos and streamline workflows.
- Customization. Customizable templates and the ability to tailor reminders to specific patient groups, appointment types, languages, and communication preferences are key. This level of personalization ensures that patients receive the right information at the right time.
- Scalability. Your organization needs software that can grow with you. The software you choose should be able to handle a larger patient base, increased visit volumes, and innovations in communication technology without sacrificing performance.
- Cost. Consider an option that provides flat, per-provider monthly pricing, rather than charging a fee for every patient reminder you send.
Conclusion
Patient reminders help reduce no-shows and late arrivals, resulting in improved efficiency and patient care. If you digitize and automate those reminders, you can customize your messages, deliver a more comprehensive and satisfying patient experience, optimize providers’ schedules and staff members’ time, and reduce patients’ wait times.
When choosing patient reminder software, be sure to consider whether your options integrate with your existing systems, support customization and scalability, and offer a fair fee structure.
By harnessing the power of automation to deliver smart appointment reminders, healthcare organizations of all sizes can increase patient engagement, enhance operational efficiency, and ultimately deliver a superior healthcare experience to their patients.
