Even if your patient no-show rate for appointments is well below the average of 18.8% revealed in a BMC Health Services Research study, you could still be missing out on thousands of dollars in revenue. This lost income is a dire problem for practitioners who wish to continue serving their patients, especially as COVID anxiety persists surrounding in-person visits. Innovators have scrambled to find ways to recover this lost income and save hurting practices. SMS appointment reminders are a relief to busy health care professionals, as they help remind patients of upcoming appointments and help fill unexpected cancellations.
Looking to improve revenue for your office by reducing patient no-shows? Unfortunately, you can’t automatically sign up your patients for your text messages, but here’s how to convince more patients to consent to SMS appointment reminders.
Be Transparent and Informative
A barrier to the SMS appointment reminder solution is effectively communicating the importance, safety, and convenience of SMS reminders to patients. Most notably, HIPAA laws present barriers to providing mobile-friendly access to health and appointment information. To assure your patients that SMS reminders are safe and convenient, you’ll need to be informative and transparent in how you present the option.
However you choose to inform patients of SMS reminders, you’ll need to provide detailed and easy-to-understand information. Ensure that they’re informed of exactly how and when you’ll send reminders and why these reminders are beneficial. Provide information on how HIPAA relates to these SMS reminders so that the patient understands their rights and what consent means in this context.
Make Patient Consent Easy
Once you’re certain you’ve provided ample information and reassurance to patients, you can move forward with finding effective ways to promote SMS reminders. To increase the number of patients who consent to SMS appointment reminders, you’ll need to make providing consent easy.
Think about your patient demographics, such as which age bracket you serve, to decide which efforts will be most effective.
Offer SMS Appointment Reminder Sign-Up During Phone Calls
Many times, patients won’t be aware of a service or are unwilling to go through the effort to seek it out. To overcome this barrier, you’ll want to reach out in a way that makes it hard for patients to ignore. Offering sign-up for SMS appointment reminders over phone calls is a great way to make consent quick and simple.
For older patients, especially, phone calls are usually the most effective form of communication outside of in-person visits. Use the opportunity, such as when someone calls for an appointment or is checking on scripts, to mention that you noticed they have not yet consented to SMS reminders. Then, point them in the right direction as to how they can consent.
Provide Consent Form with Intake Forms
What’s one more signature? While a patient is already in your office filling out intake forms, you can easily add one more slip that informs them of SMS appointment reminders. This form should go over the basics of SMS reminders and a patient’s rights, then allows patients to sign their consent right on the sheet.
This approach overcomes the extra step that other methods require, offering the patient all their consent forms in one neat package.
Post Signs with SMS Appointment Reminder Information
While waiting in the office, whether it’s in the waiting room or exam room, patients are often bored. If wait times are extra long, the patient’s eyes might wander and look for something of interest. Hang up a few colorful signs that get patients’ attention and encourage them to sign up for SMS appointment reminders.
Provide a step-by-step guide on how to sign up or offer a QR code that sends them to digital consent forms. Keep printed forms handy as well if a patient can’t access the digital version.
Fill Your Appointment Slots with Telio
Anyone can forget about an appointment made months in advance, so utilizing a helpful reminder service will keep your schedules filled and your office revenue flowing. If you have any no-show rate at all, it’s time to get your patients back on track with SMS appointment reminders.
Telio offers SMS appointment reminder services with a free unique phone number so that your patient communications stay HIPAA-friendly. You’ll also have access to the full interaction history for each patient and the ability to directly message them.
Browse Telio’s SMS reminder services for more information or get started today by creating your new account!