by Dee Bills, Front Office GURU | Front Desk Training, Patient Care Coordinators, Same-day Cancellations, Schedule Efficiency
No matter what’s happening, consider this:
Every empty spot on your schedule, whether because of same day cancellations or no-shows, represents a patient not getting the care they need and deserve.
Wow, right?
Not only that, but whenever your front office staff has to take time today to fill a same-day spot, they lose the time and energy they need to focus on tomorrow.
It becomes a never-ending cycle where they’re constantly playing catch up.
Several factors play into this, but the main one is that untrained staff tend to hand control over to the patient.
How?
They don’t know what to say to control the conversation, so they end up putting the patient in control and accepting same day cancellations.
Now they have to work reactively, meaning they must find a way to re-establish control.
To run a successful business, you need your front desk staff to be proactive, not reactive.
When someone works proactively, they work efficiently and effectively and plan ahead. When your front office is proactive, they can avoid empty spots and prevent same day cancellations.
But when they’re working reactively, they’re stuck dealing with today’s schedule, which makes them feel disorganized and behind in their work. This leads to stress, and eventually, turnover.
When your team is working proactively, tomorrow’s schedule will be filled before the close of business today.
So, they start the day tomorrow by being able to focus on all the other things they need to get done. When they are well-trained, they can prevent same day cancellations and your practice will avoid empty spots.
And they work to keep the schedule full by using a system of cancellation prevention that keeps patients arriving as scheduled.
With these two things in place, you have better schedule control so management can plan effectively and keep costs down.
Patients are happier because they see results.
And those empty spots become a thing of the past.
But that means your front desk staff needs effective training to become a true Patient Care Coordinator, not just a receptionist.
When they’re trained to coordinate care, patients are properly managed and more likely to remain consistent in their appointments and reach their goals.
When they see results, they’re happier. And happy patients WILL return when they need help later on, AND they’ll refer others.
Unhappy or unsuccessful patients don’t do any of that. Plus, if they owe you money, it becomes almost impossible to collect from an unhappy patient.
Your practice is there to treat patients and help them recover and live their best lives.
To do that, you need to ensure they schedule and arrive for care as prescribed.
With the right training and the right message to your patients, your front office staff can become masters at patient management, schedule control, and preventing same day cancellations.
If you’re suffering from same-day cancels and no-shows, if your schedule has holes before you start the day, or if patient scheduling is hit or miss, The Front Office GURU Training Academy® can help you fix your front desk by providing you and your team with consistent training.
With the proper training for your front desk, your patients and the practice will thrive.
If you’ve been waiting for the right time or team, stop waiting.
There’s never a perfect time to start, and The Front Office GURU makes it easy to train and retrain your team.
Let me help you provide consistent training. so they feel like they’re winning.
With The Front Office GURU Training Academy®, you can have the tools you need to provide consistent training to your front desk.
When you provide consistent training, your team is more successful and success in their position helps to decrease turnover.
Here are just a few of the essential topics we cover in this program:
How to have the right mindset when speaking with patients.
How to get more new patients to schedule and arrive for their evaluation appt
How to talk about the cost of care and handle patient worries about costs
How to PREVENT cancels and no-shows (and also how to handle someone to keep it from happening again)
How to fill your schedule and keep it full
Watch this video to learn more: