1. For those who take insurance get in “end of year” insurance out.
2. Have a short call list
3. Make sure that every patient has their next appointment scheduled before leaving
4. Follow-up on unscheduled treatment and missed appointments. The person doing the calls must have excellent communication skills and and be well drilled on doing such calls. An untrained person doing such calls will typically make matters worse.
5. Confirm all appointments. If you have trouble contacting a patient, when you do reach him or her ask what will be the best time to reach him or her in the future. Patients will also have preferred methods of communication – some will prefer a phone call at home, some at work or by text message or email.
6. The key to a high percentage of appointments kept is getting the patient to understand that he or she has made an agreement with you to be there at a certain time. They need to know that the dentist/hygienist is setting aside time just to see them and that it will adversely affect your schedule if they do not keep the agreement. You respect their time; you only ask that they respect yours in return.
7. For chronic broken appointment patients (at least three broken appointments or is not sorry after the second broken appointment) dismiss them or only allow them to be on your short call list.
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