Unified Practice

Proven Strategies to Boost your Clinic Revenue

When patients fail to show up for their appointment, it can be a major headache for acupuncture practitioners. No-shows account for lost revenue, wasted time and resources, and reduced patient satisfaction. To reduce the number of missed appointments in your practice, here are three simple steps that you can take to ensure that your patients arrive on time and ready to receive treatment. These tips will help you maximize the efficiency of your practice while maintaining patient satisfaction.

#1: Text Message Reminders

First, it’s important to ensure that your patients are aware of their upcoming appointment. By leveraging communication strategies such as email and text reminders, you can keep your patients informed of when their next appointment is scheduled. Researchers from the Department of Primary Care and Social Medicine at Imperial College London, conducted a study to determine if text message reminders are an effective way to reduce appointment no-shows. The study found that text message appointment reminders have been proven to reduce no-show rates by almost 40%!

#2: Establish an Effective Cancellation Policy

Second, it’s important to establish an effective cancellation policy in order to reduce missed appointments. Give clear instructions on how to cancel or reschedule an appointment and make sure you stick by those rules. This will help ensure that only genuine cases of emergency or illness result in a missed appointment. Unified Practice’s Credit Card Policy Enforcement was created to help combat no-shows. CCPE requires patients to leave their credit card numbers and agree to the policy up front. We have seen a 67% decrease in no-shows and late cancellations. Having a policy in place is a good start, but having the policy signed by potential clients and enforcing the policy is crucial!

#3: Educate Patients

Finally, educate patients on why sticking to their treatment plan is vital. Explain how regular acupuncture sessions are key for successful health outcomes. Clinics can pre-screen patients to identify those who are already devoted to their health. For others, they can help instill a commitment to wellness, which is the ultimate key to managing their health. Find out what is important to your clients. Show them that if they attend their acupuncture appointments regularly, they will be able to do more of what is most important to them, such as playing with their kids.

By following these steps, you can help reduce no-shows in your acupuncture practice while maintaining patient satisfaction! Even small changes like improving engagement with automated reminders or setting up an effective cancellation policy can make a big difference over time when it comes to reducing missed appointments.
Have a question about text notifications? Reach out to us any time.