Benefits of Targeted Appointment Recall For Healthcare Professionals

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Targeted appointment recall is an effective method of appointment scheduling. Instead of sending a patient a reminder to make an appointment by postcard, telephone, or email, the patient is given a tentative appointment ahead of time, even when the appointment is in the distant future. This technique involves scheduling patients at the conclusion of their current visit. Patients are then informed that they will receive a reminder near their appointment that may be used to confirm or change their appointment. Patients appreciate timely notification of their future appointments. Patients who have appointments targeted for a future date are more likely to return. Your calendar remains full, patient care is enhanced, and your practice thrives.

Cost Effectiveness of Targeted Appointment Recall
An important benefit of targeted recall is that it maintains your patient base. The cost of implementing and maintaining an effective targeted appointment recall system is minimal when compared to the resources and expense needed to attract new patients. A successful practice retains between 70 to 80% of their patients.

Front Office Personnel
It is important that your front office scheduler understand the importance of targeted recall. Make sure that your front office person knows how to succinctly explain targeted appointment recall to patients. A simple "just for an annual exam" is not sufficient reason for many patients. Have your secretary memorize a response that may be useful for patient inquiries. For example, "That would be a good time to monitor your health and take care of early problems".

Targeted Appointment Recall
Patients are accepting when your front office person says, "We will reserve your appointment for the first week of next year. We will automatically remind you when that time comes so we can change it if necessary." The key is for your office staff to select the target date since most patients have no idea what they will be doing next year let alone next week.

Target Appointment Recall Management
The next step for your office staff is to organize your targeted recall. Your efforts for recalling patients are useless unless you have an effective system for reminding patients at the proper time. Organized management systems that manipulate your patient database are the key to successful patient recall. This may consist of postcards that are completed by the patient or office staff at the time of a current appointment, and then cataloged according to time a patient is destined to return to your office. Postcards are most effective when sent a month prior to their targeted return visit. Postcard recall systems have been the mainstay of many practices over many years. But highly effective and user-friendly recall management systems are now computer-based.

Computer Appointment Recall Management
A database program may be setup to print a monthly report for patients that need to be reminded about their upcoming appointments. The program may print labels containing patient names and addresses for mailing reminders. However, the overhead cost for mailing reminders is considerable. The combined cost of postage, printing, and labor is about $1.85 for each recall reminder by mail.

Modern recall systems take advantage of email communication and text messaging. Sending reminders by email is a highly effective method for appointment recall since there are no mailing or printing costs, and labor is minimal. A computer-based system for targeted recall may also keep track of recall rates, recall compliance, and no-show appointments. An electronic trail of appointments targeted for recall is useful for medical-legal documentation. Online appointment recall systems that are HIPAA compliant and free for patients and healthcare professionals are available on the Internet. Healthcare professionals who implement effective targeted appointment recall add significant value to their practices.

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