Appointment Reminders »
It is common practice for doctors of all sorts (dentists, even some veterinarians) to call to remind you of an upcoming appointment - usually the day before your appointment, but sometimes even more in advance than that. What I am left wondering is how much money these people spend on these reminders? Sure, it may only take half an hour or an hour a day, but how many missed appointments are really being saved by these reminders? Perhaps they should just start charging you out the wazoo. I suspect it would be a larger incentive for people to make their appointments.
Comments (3)
As one that used to call people to remind them of a meeting for my Toastmasers Club, I looked, without success, for software I could install that would dial through my modem and remind people of the meeting.
Posted by Ted | September 26, 2005 7:36 PM
Of course, the other side of the coin is, what about compensation for those of us who never miss an appointment, but regularly get left sitting for up to an hour. It's a vicious circle - so many people skip appointments that the docs/dentists feel the need to overbook assuming not everybody will show.
Then, when patients do stick to their appointments, the schedule goes to hell. So poeple assume they can be late for appointments, since they're gonna waste 1/2 an hour waiting anyway... schedule goes further to hell.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
No idea how you get off the merry-go-round. Although, if it's not an urgent appointment, I often walk out, explaining I can't afford to take twice as long for an appt as I'd alloted. I get some snarky attitude, but most receptionists understand.
Paul
Posted by Light & Dark | September 26, 2005 11:02 PM
I think its more about how much money they lose if people do not make their appointments. If a doctor is sitting around doing nothing for 20 minutes because of a missed appointment, that may cost $70 (assume doctor earns $210 per hour). So if you pay someone $20 an hour for 3 hours to raise the probability of just one person making their appointments, then you have saved money.
Posted by Steve Campbell | September 27, 2005 12:51 PM