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There’s nothing worst than someone not showing up for their massage therapy appointment. Not only are you losing money by not treating that patient, but you have a gaping, unexpected hole in your schedule that’s impossible to re-book at the last minute. You’re left with a block of wasted and unprofitable time, leaving you with just enough time to return a phone call or two.
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Is it possible to proactively reduce no shows and ultimately increase the profitability of your practice? Of course. You can start by examining why no-shows occur.
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Why do no-shows occur in massage therapy?
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You’ll learn a lot about your practice by doing this exercise. Begin by looking at the charts of the people that don’t show up, and see if you can uncover any trends. Look for commonalities such as they were scheduled several weeks or months ahead of time or it’s the same people repeatedly. If they were scheduled far ahead of time, perhaps they found someone that could treat them sooner. Have someone in your office call and ask. If this is the problem you should consider how easy it is to access you. You may discover you need to leave time open in your schedule for new patients.
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Another thing to look at is consistency in no-shows. Are the same people repeatedly not showing up? For these folks consider keeping open one particular time of the day, such as right before lunch and the last appointment in the afternoon. This way if they don’t show up, they are not disrupting your schedule as much.
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Studies show that self-paid care sees more no-shows than those whose treatment is covered by insurance. If you are in an industry that traditionally doesn’t accept insurance, like massage therapy, you may see higher percentages of patients not showing up than in other industries.
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Some practices charge for no-shows. If you do that you can be sure the patients won’t be back! You may consider sending a note to their PCP (if you are in communications with them) so they understand what is going on and why treatment has been discontinued. You don’t want the patient bad-mouthing you to your referral source.
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How can you proactively prevent no-shows?
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The most common technique is to have someone in your office place reminder phone calls and/or emails a day or two before the scheduled appointment. There are also several vendors that provide automated systems that call patients in the evenings when they are most likely home. The service is fairly inexpensive and easy to implement. If you have practice management software check with your provide to ensure the automated phone system integrates with your program.
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Also, include in your initial paperwork how important it is for patients to cancel appointments if they can’t make it and request a 24 hour cancellation notice.
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Proactively reducing no-shows starts with you evaluating your processes. How you handle emergency treatments and new patients can be two immediate ways you can make a difference to your bottom line.
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About the author
Author of Healthcare Copywriting Secrets Revealed and The Practice Evolution Success Kit, Kelly Robbins is a healthcare copywriter and marketing coach/consultant. She also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection, a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, 5 Critical Mistakes Healthcare Marketers Make that Lose Sales and Plummet Profits at www.AMarketingConnection.com or 303-460-0285.
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December 3rd, 2008 at 1:50 pm
I liked this article and agree with most of the information. However, I don’t agree with part about self-pay clients “no showing” more than insurance clients. I live and work in California where we can only accept insurance for car accidents and long ago, Workers Compensation. When I worked for two docs-MD and DC, there were many patients who no showed. Several were repeat offenders and I finally flat out refused to see them again. I wasn’t paid for these missed appointments. Many of these people simply switched to another therapist!
In my private practice I see only self pay clients. I think that folks who are paying are more committed to showing up than insurance clients who lose nothing but the massage if the miss. I think insurance coverage creates an entitled client who has no responsibility for their health care and thinks that insurance will pay for their missed appointments. Not the kind of clients I want to see or that will help me build my business with referrals.
Respectfully submitted,
Jody Hutchinson, nctmb
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I would like to see where you got your statistics showing that self paid sessions have more no shows than insurance paid sessions.
I find quite the opposite in my practice. People who think their insurance company is going to foot the bill take less responsibility for their health. They are usually the first one’s to not show up in my practice. They think since the insurance is paying it isn’t as important. (The insurance does not pay for a missed appointment).
I find that people who pay for their own sessions value their health more and my time more. I do have a strict cancellation policy and charge the full fee for a missed appointment allowing only for sickness or death in the family. Since I only see 12-15 people a week – having one missed session means a lot.
From what I see in the massage profession, massage therapists are afraid to enforce their cancellation policy thinking that is what they need to do to keep clients. I for one find it too draining and unrewarding to work with people who miss appointments and don’t want to be responsible for paying for them.
There are many out there who are respectful of your time and work and will pay to receive it.
You teach people how to treat you! This also affects the whole massage profession. People begin to think they can get away without paying with any massage therapist.
Julie
http://www.massageseattle.net
http://www.massage-career-guides.com
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Jody,
I appreciate your comments. We all have different experiences with this and am glad to see you took the initiative to not work with repeat offenders. As the author my intention is to inspire therapists to look at who is consistently missing appointments and how that is affecting their practice.
Sitting there with nothing to do for an hour because a client didn’t show up is a waste of time. Are there small steps your practice can implement to decrease the incidence of no-shows? Letting go of clients that aren’t “ideal” makes room for those that are.
Kelly
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:45 pm
This is an important topic, since massage therapists are low-volume providers. Every missed appointment is a lost income opportunity. I suggest to our students that they use a strategy from the hospitality industry — get a credit card guarantee for the session, and charge the client if they no-show or fail to cancel within the designated cancellation policy. Try to book a room at a hotel without a credit card these days!
Independent massage therapists have to protect their financial well-being, and this is a way to ensure that session fees will be collected.
December 7th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
I am very aggrevated when a client is a “no show” to say the least. so on my appointment cards it states that a $10 fee will be imposed for any cancelation not reported within 24 hours of the schedoled appointment time. I have found this works very well for me. and my time anfd money are not wasted.
December 9th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Some good suggestions here. However, I don’t agree with only charging a small fee for the no show. If an appointment is scheduled and then broken, a token fee is hardly a deterrent. Charging the full fee or close to it is a way to train non-compliant clients on how your business is run. People generally respond to consequences, $10.00 IMHO, will not deter a no-show. It may train the client to think that the cancellation fee is no big deal, better than paying the full fee. The penalty doesn’t seem to match the crime.
I know many MTs who struggle with this, it’s too bad. Many doctors and psychotherapists charge missed appointment fees and they can see more patients in a day than an MT can.
Just my 2 cents,
Jody Hutchinson, nctmb
January 21st, 2012 at 12:56 pm
Interesting topic. At my clinic we had a total of 5 no show appointments for the entire year. We do not penalize patients for missed appointments because we feel we might risk losing the patient to another clinic. The long term profits (client returning for subsequent appointments) out weigh the short term (no-show).
Having a great appointment booking system is key. We use mindbody. Most of our patients book appointments online.
April 1st, 2012 at 3:14 pm
I have been struggling with this topic for a while. I do have a question directly associated with this topic. If a client cancels and I am not able to fill that slot, am I able to enter that into my accounting ledger as a “negative” amount” since it is a loss of income? All documentation in my appointment book would show cancelling with lessthan 24hrs notice.