Are you looking to create or review your practice appointment cancellation policy but don’t know where to start? This article highlights some essential aspects that we recommend you consider.
Firstly, let’s consider why a cancellation policy matters, and how it can help your team.
Why have a cancellation policy?
A cancellation policy provides support for your reception and admin team members, providing something they can refer to when they have a late cancellation/DNA (Did Not Attend – with no prior notice).
A late cancellation is when a patient cancels their appointment outside the notice period stated in your policy. If your policy states for example that 48 hours’ notice must be given for a cancellation, then anything within 48hrs of the appointment would be considered a late cancellation.
When as a practice you’ve made decisions about the terms of cancellations and have developed documentation accordingly, your admin team members can refer patients to this as necessary. As well as giving them more confidence to deal with such circumstances, it means they are less likely to bear the brunt of a disgruntled patient’s upset.
Ensuring informed financial consent
Informed financial consent is the act of providing cost information to patients, preferably in writing, prior to their appointment or treatment.
With your cancellation policy established, you can make your patients aware of it when letting them know the cost of their appointment, thereby covering all your informed financial consent obligations in one hit.
Some suggestions to consider incorporating are:
Including your cancellation policy at the foot of your patient registration form, with a tick box, so that when they sign the form, they are also acknowledging the cancellation policy.
Including your cancellation policy in the appointment reminder messages sent to patients – it can be as simple as ’48 hours’ notice must be given for cancellations’.
Displaying your cancellation policy around the practice, such as on a notice board in your waiting room or having cancellation documentation accessible/visible in clinicians’ rooms.
Making sure that admin team members reiterate the cancellation policy to new patients or existing patients that don’t attend the clinic on a regular basis.
Some ways to avoid/manage cancellations/DNAs
Cancellations and DNAs are both costly and frustrating for both clinicians and admin. Plus, when you have other patients who really want and need appointments, they can be even more disappointed!
So most practices are very keen to find ways to avoid them! Different tactics work for different practices, so we suggest that you consider the following with regard to your clients or patients, and the services you provide:
‘Three strikes and you’re out’ - If a patient cancels or doesn’t attend three appointments (or the number you determine), advise them that the practice is no longer able to offer them appointments. Incorporating this in your policy and determining how to monitor and record in your clinical software, will ensure your team members understand how to manage serial DNAs.
Auto appointment confirmations - If possible, set your software to automatically send a confirmation message at the time the appointment is booked.
Appointment reminder messages - Sending patients a reminder message 24 - 72 hours before their scheduled appointment can help, with the timing of the message taking into account your practice cancellation notice requirements and enough time to call. Many practices we work with now also send out a reminder 7 days prior.
Pre-payment - If you have a repeat offender, taking payment 24 - 48 hours prior will generally increase the likelihood of them attending their appointment.
Cancellation fees - They don’t always work and some patients won’t pay, but sometimes the knowledge that a fee will be charged is enough to ensure patients attend their appointment or cancel well ahead. As an example, your cancellation fee could be 50% of the appointment fee.
Notice periods
The amount of notice required by your practice for an appointment cancellation will depend on several factors, including:
How busy your practice is;
Whether or not you have a waiting list;
Clinicians’ preferences (some are quite happy to use an unexpected gap to catch up!); and
Appointment duration.
If you have a busy practice with a waiting list, then 24 hours’ notice will likely be enough time to fill the vacancy. If your practice is quieter and you don’t have a lengthy waiting list, then 48 hours’ notice will make it easier for your team to fill the vacancy. You may also take appointment duration into consideration. If your appointments go for 15 minutes, then a smaller notice period might be adequate, but if your appointments are an hour and the impact of a gap is therefore greater, you might like to implement a longer notice period.
If you’d like some guidance on creating or updating your cancellation (or other) documentation, the team at Augmentum can assist with multiple services, from developing your policy and procedure documentation, to implementing and embedded it with your practice team - just get in touch.
You might also like to use our policy & procedure template to get you started!
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