In our last post, we discussed the useful number known as the conversion rate. One component of that conversion rate relates to patients who have made an appointment, but do not show up for that appointment. In our scheme, the percentage of the patients that show up for their new patient consultation is known as the show up rate. Like the conversion rate, the computation is very simple: take the number of patients that showed up for a new patient appointment divided by the number that made a new patient appointment for that period.
Like the conversion rate, this number will result in a percentage between 0 and 100 (if the number is greater than 100%, you probably have an issue with the process that computes this number). Also like the conversion rate, we’re concerned with the trend and performance over time. If your show up rate is 80% for 6 months straight, drops to 40% in one month and then goes right back to 80%, we’ll look at that one aberrant month, but not spend too much time stressing about it.
In a lot of ways, getting a patient to show up for that first appointment represents the last major hurdle in getting a patient into your system.
Getting your advertising in front of a patient is very challenging. Getting that patient to call requires some work and having them sign up for an appointment can be an obstacle as well. After going through all that, if you can get them into your office, you’ve got them. Once they meet you, see your team, check out the office, and discover what you can do for them, you’ve got yourself a new patient in treatment. That should be the easiest part of the process for you. If this part is a struggle for you, check out our piece on improving your consultation process.
Getting patients to show up has been something that has bedeviled quite a number of quality practices over the years. Despite their best efforts, they simply cannot push their show up rates past a certain ceiling. Here, we lay out 3 tips for improving your show up rates:
Be consistent and inviting with your confirmations
Practices have varying methods to confirm new patient appointments. Some do it 2 days before an appointment, some do it 3 days and 1 day before an appointment. Whatever the case, you should be doing these within one week of the appointment.
When the confirmation is done, please generate genuine excitement to see that patient. And you should be excited. New patients equal job security and the opportunity to do good things for your community. Whether you’ve chosen text messages, e-mail, robo calls or personal phone calls as your method of confirmation, please structure it to show that the patient you are calling is the patient you want to see above all the others. I, and I know you, have probably gotten confirmation calls from offices that have all the appeal of a brick wall – and in some cases, that’s an insult to the brick wall.
When it comes to new patients, I’ve found that personal, friendly, upbeat phone calls work best. Having the doctor call these patients can show an additional level of professionalism and concern. Time doesn’t always permit these types of calls, but if you see results dipping, you may want to take this extra step. Confirming regular, ongoing appointments may lend itself better to more efficient methods, but that new patient call is hugely important.
Check your convenience
We’ve referred to this in the past, but people will show up to appointments that are convenient for them. This happens in a number of ways. First, the time of day is vitally important. The most convenient times for new patients – or any patients—tend to come after school and after work. Duh. But I cannot tell you the number of offices that try to cram a patient in for an 8 am consultation appointment. I don’t know about you, but in my house, early morning is active enough: I’m trying to get ready for work, the kids are getting ready for school and my wife is taking care of all of us and getting herself prepared for what she needs to accomplish for the day. No need to throw a wrench into that machinery. Let people ease into and finish their days before setting up appointments. Everyone’s life will be a lot easier.
One other big component of convenience is making a new patient slot available within a week or two of the patient call. If your practice is requiring potential new patients to wait 6 weeks to 2 months for an appointment, that’s a bad thing – not a positive reflection on the busyness of the practice. You need to either add later hours, weekends or take steps to rearrange your schedule –while preserving the quality of care-- to accommodate those patients. Otherwise, people move on to different things and schedule events to replace your appointment. Or, they find a practice that can see them sooner. We live in an immediate gratification society and when someone calls for a new patient appointment, they want that appointment now. In fact, we’ve done a couple of studies that show that when a patient has to wait more than 14 days for a new patient appointment, the show up rate falls by more than 40%. That’s a big loss considering all the work you’ve done to get a new patient appointment.
Add a call-to-action
We’re not suggesting that you give something away to each patient to entice them to come. That’s overkill to attract those on the margins and doesn’t represent a very healthy way to improve the show up rate. Rather, remind them of something special in the practice like the awesome location next to that new Pinkberry, your fish tank or your pictures of the world’s largest ball of twine. Whatever the case, give them that additional reason to show up. Maybe it only attracts a few extra patients, but in a lot of cases, that’s all you need.
In more trying times, you may want to offer the opportunity to win something. If you come in, we’ll give you 3 extra chances to win a new Playstation 4. Or, if you come in for your appointment, we’ll give you 2 extra afternoon appointments or just something to sweeten the point. You don’t have to give anything of direct value, but that one extra reason can mean one extra patient which makes the difference between a successful month and a mediocre one.
Of course, if you have any questions, comments or would like to get some further guidance, please let us know. We’re always in the mood to communicate.
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