In running your own dental practice, you come to learn that certain things are inevitable—like people not showing up for their appointments. This has been just part of doing business, but now that you’re reopening your doors after the COVID-19 shutdown, it’s important to maximize your patient flow during each workday. That’s why the dental practice coaches at Bryant Consultants came up with this list of ways to help reduce your number of no-shows.
Patients need to show up, especially now
You spent weeks either limiting your services due to the coronavirus or having to close your office doors altogether. You need to make up for the lost time—and lost income—while also finally having the chance to provide the care you weren’t able to for your patients.
Expect a major flood of people wanting appointments once you fully open your doors again. A cancellation during this time can be especially troubling. You can try to fill that gap on the schedule, but if you can’t, that represents lost time and lost money. One study estimated that just one no-show per day could cost a practicing dentist $30,000 or more over an entire year.
Shocking, right? The first step to reducing the number of no-show appointments at your dental practice is to identify the common reasons for a patient to not show up or cancel at the last minute. Maybe your patient doesn’t understand the significance of regular dental care. Maybe he or she was dissuaded by the cost or a fear of going to the dentist. Perhaps their work schedule, child care needs, or transportation issues complicated matters. It’s also quite possible that the patient simply forgot.
Understanding why a patient doesn’t show is just part of the solution. You have to have a strategy to limit these no-shows from happening at all.
Six Ways to Reduce No-Shows
1) Know your patients and their behavior. Do you have a patient who already has a few no-shows or last-minute cancellations? Why is this occurring? Identifying if your patient has a complicating issue—such as a fear of the dentist, a psychosocial problem, or an extenuating circumstance that makes it difficult to keep appointments—can go a long way in working together with the patient to find a resolution to the problem.
2) Teach them. Most dentists today know the importance of the mouth-body connection; namely, that good oral health is a vital component of good overall health. You may know this, but do your patients? Take time to educate them on why regular dental care matters, the importance of the procedure they’ve been scheduled to have, and how postponing treatment is a bad decision.
3) Communicate. By engaging your patients and making them feel like they’re part of the process, you’re emotionally investing them in their own care. This process should start with the treatment plan and your explanation of why the chosen procedure is the best choice for them. From there, you can impart the importance of the treatment—and for showing up for a scheduled appointment. You and your team should work to discuss any financial concerns by explaining your payment policies and options.
4) Put it in writing. Having a set cancellation policy makes it more likely your patients will follow through on their appointments. Post this policy in writing and make sure all your patients—whether they’ve been in your care for a week or several decades—know about it.
5) Consider same-day dentistry. Scheduling appointments with any professional provider can be difficult. Patients have to navigate around their work schedules and their children’s schedules for school and activities. If your office closes by the time a patient is leaving work and isn’t open on weekends, the frustrations for your patient could magnify, and they just stop trying to get on the books at all. Not everyone has the flexibility to drop everything and come in for an appointment in the middle of the day. Same-day dentistry allows many restorations to be made chairside and turning procedures that required multiple appointments into a single office visit.
6) Use technology. We live in a digital age—especially coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Use technological advances, if you aren’t already, to make care easier for your patients. You can set up automated text or email reminders of upcoming appointments. Or, for a personal touch, have a member of your staff call to notify patients of their upcoming visit.
At Bryant Consultants, we want you to succeed. We recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented challenge for our entire society. Just know we’re here to help. That’s why we’re offering a free one-hour consultation for any dentist with questions or concerns about their future plans. Schedule your consultation today by calling (877) 768-4799. Are you on social media? We are too! Please connect with us on Facebook and Instagram.
