Automated appointment reminder systems can reliably send a large volume of personalized appointment reminders to patients with little effort and at a fraction of the cost of manual methods.
The most effortful part of the process is extracting patient appointment information and sending it to the vendor.
For some practices, reminder systems can automatically extract patient appointment information from the practice management system, generate appointment reminders, send reminders and track responses.
At other practices, the staff needs to generate a file with the patient appointment information.
This is typically an easy task.
If practices do not store appointment information electronically, they can transmit this information by inputting the appointment information online.
Benefits of sending automating appointment reminders Greater convenience for patients.
Since the front office staff is limited to making calls during office hours, they typically reach an answering machine.
Automated reminder systems can make reminder calls in the evenings and on weekends, when patients are more likely to be home.
While messages left on answering machines can serve as effective reminders, these messages lack an important feature: interactivity.
By reaching the patient, the patient can easily confirm or cancel the appointment during the call.
Reliable, effortless, consistent reminders.
Making reminder call after reminder call is a tedious chore for employees.
The fatigue of making routine reminder calls can negatively affect the caller's tone of voice.
In contrast, the reminder call is consistent in tone and content.
The message is pre-recorded in a studio using professional voice actors.
The recipient can easily repeat the message and call the office if additional assistance is required.
Relying on staff to make calls or send out reminder postcards not only burdens the staff but also becomes another task that they may or may not get around to completing.
Certainly on some days, they'll forget to make all the reminder calls or they'll just run out of time to do so.
However, this is a non-issue for the automated reminder system.
Frees up time for other tasks.
Other than the time it takes for a staff member to send appointment information to the system and to view the reports, a good automated reminder system requires little interaction and minimal training.
While practices are naturally hesitant to adopt a new tool that can interrupt the existing work flow, automated appointment reminder systems are extremely easy to use and can save hours a day.
Consider the manual process of making reminder calls.
Someone has to dial the number, track the response, keep track of those that need to be called back, retry some numbers, spend time answering other questions that come up during the conversation, etc.
Automated reminders are much more efficient.
Tips for using automating appointment reminders While most practices that adopt appointment reminders are satisfied with the results, there are some potential pitfalls to using automated reminders.
To avoid these pitfalls, consider setting expectations and asking for feedback.
Set expectations.
It's important that your staff and your patients know what to expect once you switch to an automated reminders system.
Explain how the reminders work to all staff members so that they can field questions from patients.
At a minimum, use signs and handouts to explain the new reminder service to patients.
Most patients are used to receiving automated messages and will appreciate the service.
Ask for feedback.
If you're concerned that your patients won't like receiving automated appointment reminders, don't sign a long term contract with the service provider.
Consider the first few months of the service as a trial period.
Ask your staff how they feel about the reminders service and whether they've received positive and/or negative comments from patients.
You may want to ask patients directly, particularly if you already send out patient satisfaction surveys.
Listen carefully to the feedback.
If the majority are happy with the service, you should continue to send automated reminders.
If many people express dissatisfaction with the service, it may be time to consider another reminder service.