15.2 Discussion on Reminders

In the past, practices often treated un-booked appointments or failure to attends (FTAs) as an opportunity to take a well-earned break, but this attitude is changing. Difficult financial times have caused dentists and managers to become more aware of the sophisticated traits that play a part in defining practice success. Now, FTAs, short notice cancellations (SNCs) and white space are seen for exactly what they represent – lost revenue that can never be recouped.
Only 37% of practice reported to us that they have a failure to attend rate lower than 2% of their patients. Over 15% said it was over 6% failure to attend rate!
Use of 3 reminders at different intervals prior to an appointment has been shown to reduce FTAs to under 1.3%. We recommend an email at three weeks prior to the appointment, a text message at 7 days and a second text message 2 days before, with an option for patients to reply being sent the week before.
Reminders are sent to patients who already have an appointment booked to remind them to attend their appointment, a task that should not be confused with recalls, which are sent to patients who don't have an appointment booked to prompt them to make an appointment.
Practices employing this strategy have reduced FTAs from the average of 4.3% to 2.5% and if this is combined with an automated text reply system, which mentally commits the patient to the appointment, results improve even further, taking FTAs to 1.3%. FTAs suck the lifeblood out of practices and leave no time for remedial action.

• Trigger short notice cancellations early
• On average, SMS messages reduce FTA rates from 5% to 2.5%
• Replies offer a further average reduction of 1.3%
• Focus phone calls on high value treatments / unconfirmed appointments

We see so many practices only have a reminder that is being sent to the patient 2 days before their appointment with nothing else. This is too late for those patients you are booking 6 months in advance, people's diaries change. Ideally we want to start by giving them their 3 week reminder via email, this email should be prompting the patient to communicate with the practice if that appointment no longer suits them.
By sending this email 3 weeks out it is giving your reception team a great opportunity to discuss collecting the patient's email address on departure when they book their 6 month recall in advance. We need to give patients the maximum opportunity to rebook their appointment if they can no longer make it.
1 week prior to their appointment, ideally if you are an already established practice you should be confirming your appointments for the week ahead, not the day or two before. You need to know who is planning on attending their appointment and who is not. This gives you the maximum opportunity to backfill moved and cancelled appointments using your short notice cancellation list.
Those patients who do not confirm from the SMS message you send them, call them to confirm 3-4 days ahead of their appointment.
When the patient receive their 2 day reminder, every single patient should already be confirmed, this reminder should be reflecting that we look forward to seeing them at their already confirmed appointment.
By implementing this process and following it carefully you should be able to achieve a failure to attend rate of less than 2% and also have a dramatic impact on your short notice gaps in the appointment book.