Appointment Reminder Text Messages DO Reduce No-Shows! But How Much? Are They Worth It?

Running a behavioral health practice, you know no-shows cost you time and money. No-Show DABDA is time better spent on other things. And depending on your Cancellation Policy, you could lose all or part of your session fee!

Providers or staff can call or text clients the day before to remind them their appointment is coming up, but that can be easy to miss and there just may not be time (there’s a practice to run after all!). Good thing, the evidence is in: Appointment reminders reduce no-shows!

How low can no-shows go?

We looked at two sources to see just how much a text message sent to your clients could reduce no-shows. And the answer is: Your no-shows could drop significantly.

Athena Health examined 53.4 million client visits, looking at what kind of reminder clients received and how many no-showed. Clients who received no reminder at all no-showed 10.5% of the time. In contrast, clients who received a reminder by text message no-showed only 4.4% of the time! That’s a 42% reduction!

Results were even better for Geisinger Health System. The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society examined no-show rates when the hospital tried out their new SMS reminder system. Clients who didn’t receive a reminder no-showed 12% of the time, while clients who did receive text reminders only no-showed 0.56% of the time!

Interested in appointment reminders for your practice?

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