If you really think about it, no shows don't only have an impact on the medical industry. We recently sent out an email entitled, "What Can We Learn from United Airlines Flight 3411?" Yes, the article was written to remind us all of the importance of having compassion for our patients. But the situation on Flight 3411 was created by one consistent theme in the airline industry: Constant no shows. A December 22, 2016, article in the Optometry Timeshighlighted the fact that no industry suffers from no shows quite like that of the airlines. How do they compensate for this? Well, they overbook flights and offer travel vouchers if problems arise. The articles states that, "The airline industry's effective policy to combat no-shows seems to be working, but the tradeoff is an ever-decreasing level of customer satisfaction." In light of recent events, that statement might need to be reevaluated, but the conundrum of no shows and how we should fix them in the world of optometry still exists. The only thing more difficult than solving the no show problem is probably finding accurate statistics on the issue. It is generally agreed upon that the no show rate industry-wide is between 15-30%. At the low end, this would be problematic. At the high end, this would be crippling for a practice. In an attempt to gain a better understanding of our network's approach to no shows, we sent out a poll on the subject. The results were emailed out on Tuesday, May 9th. It wasn't a shock that only one of the poll participants charges no show fees. In case you are wondering, this is Dr. Fred Wallace and Dr. Merin Graves at Wallace Optometry Associates in Bessemer, Alabama. To gain a better understanding of what this looks like on the ground level, we reached out to Dr. Graves and asked a few questions on the topic. Her responses are below. 1. What made you get to the point that you decided to start charging no show fees? The no show rate in our practice was getting out of control. We are located in an area where many patients have difficulty obtaining transportation and/or keeping an active contact number, which are certainly contributing factors, but cannot be solely blamed for the issue. Proactive strategies such as pre-appointing, personal (not automated!) reminder calls, texts, and double booking chronic no show patients didn't really solve the problem. 2. When did you start implementing the fee? January 2017. 3. How did you know it was right for your practice? It was a risk we were willing to take because we were determined to see change and communicate to our patients that if we reserve an appointment time specifically for them, we expect them to show up. And if they are not able to make it, then we request 24 hours notice so that we can offer that time to another patient. We stay booked between one-and-a-half-to-three weeks out at a time so we don't like to see an appointment slot wasted. 4. What were the barriers to charging no show fees? How did you let your patients know about it? We do get pushback from patients, which is to be expected. It's a new policy for the office and we will gladly explain the reason for it. In a 65-year-old practice where things have been done the same way for decades, change, while often difficult, is still necessary. In some cases where there are valid reasons, the no show fee can be waived. However, at the end of every day, any patients who did not show up without giving the required 24 hours notice get a statement put in the mail for the no show fee. The patients are informed of the no show fee both when scheduling the appointment and when the reminder call and text is made to the patient prior to their appointment. The no show policy is also detailed in patient intake paperwork and initialed by the patient for all future appointments. 5. If there were any barriers, how did you overcome them? Patients who have no showed and then return for a rescheduled appointment must pay the no show fee from the missed appointment before we will see them. We have an excellent staff that enforces the policy well and clearly explains the reason for the policy. They also possess great compassion for situations where charging the fee would not be appropriate & they will waive it. For patients consistently unable to keep appointments, we choose to see them on a call ahead basis, meaning we will not reserve a future time for them, but they can call in the morning and if we have the ability to work them in that same day, we will do so. We consider it the "striking while the iron is hot" principle. If the patient is calling you that day, then capitalize on that and see them that day. 6. What was the overall response of your patients to the no show fees? Do any particular conversations stand out? The overall response was that we had fewer no shows than before. Do we still have no shows? Absolutely. But far fewer than in 2016. For example, we have a glaucoma patient whose no show's over the past five years were somewhere close to 30. Yes, 30. On a chilly morning this past February, during our weekly staff meeting & before the office was open, we had a knock at the door and it was this particular patient. He had walked to the office (We have many who walk to us!) and he came early because he was bound and determined to not be charged the no show fee. He is one of our most notorious no show patients, so we were thrilled to hear that the new policy had the desired outcome with him. 7. What impact has charging no show fees had on your practice? It has increased our overall show rate and stressed the importance of keeping scheduled appointments to our patients. No show fees seem to be implemented increasingly in clinical settings (primary care, dentists, etc). It's also routinely utilized in hair salons and spas, and in many of those situations the charge is significantly greater than what our practice charges! Patients expect us to respect their time by keeping wait times low and we expect them to respect ours by keeping their appointments. This certainly can't be used as a blanket statement but, as you can see with Dr. Wallace and Dr. Graves at Wallace Optometry Associates, many of the fears commonly expressed with regard to no show fees simply do not come into play. In fact, if done correctly, no show fees can have a positive effect on a practice's bottom line. Our goal here was to simply reach out and see how implementing no show fees have impacted Dr. Wallace and Dr. Graves at Wallace Optometry Associates. After seeing the results of the poll, it was our only shot for some practical feedback!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorThe staff and doctors at VisionAmerica are committed to providing relevant information for you, your patients and your practice. We hope you find the information in our blog post helpful. Archives
August 2019
Categories |