How Mass Text Messaging Helps Doctors Cut Down on Missed Appointments
Is your practice or hospital plagued by missed patient appointments? Missed appointments are both inconvenient and expensive for healthcare businesses. As a result, many physicians and hospital staff have systems in place to remind patients of upcoming appointments.
Mass text messaging can be used as a reminder for your patients.
Some may choose to call them the day prior as a reminder, while others send out notices in the mail ahead of office visits. If you are interested in further reducing the number of missed appointments at your practice, mass text messaging may be the solution you’ve been seeking. Here are three reasons why you should consider partnering with a mobile communications provider to text reminders to your patients.How Mass Text Messaging Helps Doctors Cut Down on Missed Appointments
It Will Help Reduce Costs
Recent data suggests that missed patient appointments cost millions for healthcare companies in the UK. NHS England estimates that missed general practitioner appointments cost 162 million annually, and missed outpatient care visits cost an average of 108 per appointment. Nearly 7 million patients miss hospital appointments each year. If you don’t have an effective reminder system in place for your business, things could get expensive. Mass text messaging can help you save a considerable amount of money by reducing the frequency of missed patient appointments.
Mass Text Messaging Complements Your Existing Reminders
Many businesses have systems in place to remind their patients about upcoming appointments. For example, some general practitioners choose to send reminder cards in the mail ahead of a scheduled appointment. Others may call patients the day before their office visit. While these reminders may be helpful, they aren’t as effective as they could be, as millions of patients are still missing scheduled appointments. Implementing a mass text messaging system can help provide more timely reminders to patients. Instead of sending them something a week or day prior, messages can be timed for an hour or two ahead of their scheduled office visit. Timely reminders make it more difficult to forget about appointments.
Your Patients Will Thank You
According to data from NHS England, nearly half of patients report that they missed appointments simply because they forgot about them. Missed appointments can be a source of frustration for your practice employees as well as your patients. Patients who’ve forgotten about a scheduled visit are then forced to find a new time that works with their schedule, and the rescheduling process can be challenging. This is especially true if the appointment needs to happen quickly and your practice is very busy. Many patients would likely appreciate a quick text message to remind them of an upcoming office visit, so that they don’t have to go through the trouble of finding a new appointment time.
Many healthcare companies are using mobile to stay connected.
If you’ve been trying to think of ways you can further reduce the frequency of missed patient appointments, mass text messaging may be a solution worth considering. Not only will setting up a system via mobile help you reduce costs and frustration, your patients will also be grateful for the timely reminder. Those interested in getting started with mass text messaging can try FireText for free today!