Canceled appointments, late arrivals, and no-shows can seem unavoidable in healthcare. These situations can be costly — resulting in a loss of over $150 billion annually for the United States healthcare system (Chen, 2023). In 2023, more than one-third of medical groups in one poll said their patient no-show rates had increased in the last year, with only 11% of respondents reporting a decrease (Medical Group Management Association, 2023).
You can reduce the number of no-shows, last-minute cancellations, and late arrivals with appointment reminders. Although reminders can help improve appointment follow-through, they can take a lot of your staff’s time — unless they’re automated or you use fill-in-the-blank templates.
Benefits of Appointment Reminder Templates
Reminder messages help keep your schedule full, increasing appointment volume, production, and revenue.
Using templates can benefit your practice even more:
- Time savings: The biggest advantage of using templates is the time savings. Templates streamline your workflow and improve efficiency by allowing staff to fill in individual details quickly without writing messages from scratch every time.
- Improved consistency: Templates ensure all messaging and branding are consistent in tone, language, colors, and logos. Consistent brand messages can reinforce your professionalism and brand identity.
- Increased accuracy: Using templates reduces the risk of errors in information and spelling. Integrating templates with an automatic system can reduce inaccuracies even more by filling in the blanks in a template with information from patient records.
Using appointment reminder templates improves communication overall between your practice and your patients. Improved communication then increases patient satisfaction with their healthcare experience and improved outcomes. Poor communication leads to patients being less likely to follow instructions. In contrast, effective communication makes patients feel valued and can even reduce their healthcare costs since they are more likely to participate proactively in their own care.
Appointment Reminder Best Practices
When structuring a reminder message, use friendly language while keeping it brief. Include only the essential details to protect patient privacy. List when the appointment is and your practice’s name and contact information. Never include information about specific conditions, diagnoses, results, or treatments. If patients need this information, direct them to contact you or check their patient portal.
Limiting protected health information (PHI) also helps you comply with regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). You may also need to include opt-out options in your messages or get explicit permission before contacting patients with a particular channel.
You also want to structure message frequency so the reminders are useful, not irritating.
First, send an appointment confirmation when the patient books an appointment. Notifying patients immediately that their appointment is on your schedule can help remind them to add it to their own calendars.
Start by sending three reminder messages two weeks, two days, and one day before the appointment. Adjust as you get feedback on your messages. Your patients might prefer receiving more than three messages or a day-of reminder instead of the day before.
Finally, include a call to action in your messages, such as asking the patient to confirm, cancel, reschedule, or add the appointment to their calendar.
While you want to keep your message as short as possible, you may want to include other important information, such as “wear loose-fitting clothing” for physical therapy or “do not eat for 12 hours before your appointment” for certain types of bloodwork or inpatient procedures. You can also remind people to bring their insurance information, arrive early to fill out paperwork, or that payment is due at the time of service.
You can also use reminders to notify patients when you need to reschedule, whether that’s due to bad weather, a provider being out of the office, or other unexpected situations.
Ensure your patients find these messages useful by sending them using their preferred method. Many patients want a text message, but you can also use email or phone call reminders.
Appointment Reminder Templates
Using an appointment reminder template can help you create your messages quickly and easily. Whether you’re texting, sending an email, or calling, you can use one of these templates as a starting place.
Text Message Reminders
Sending text or SMS reminders may be the most effective way to message your patients. On average, Americans check their phones more than 100 times daily (Kerai, 2023). Try these text message templates to catch your patients’ attention one of those times:
- Aisha has an appointment with University Dermatology on 7/12 at 3:00 p.m. To confirm, reply YES.
- Hi, Emily! This is Healthy Smiles Dental Practice. We wanted to remind you of your appointment on August 7 at 9:30 a.m. Text us to confirm. Reply STOP to unsubscribe.
- Sofia, here’s a friendly reminder that you have an upcoming appointment with us on 9/21 at 11:00 a.m. Thank you! Millcreek Family Practice
- Please reply Y to confirm your appointment at 2:30 p.m. on 11/14 with Dr. Jamal Khan at Bridge City Optical. Thanks!
- Wei, remember to take your medication before your next appointment on 10/2 at 8:00 a.m. at Riverside Clinic. Text STOP to opt out.
- You’re due for a checkup with Dr. Priya Sharma. Call us at 555-555-555 or click here [online scheduling link] to make an appointment!
Email Appointment Reminders
Email reminders will likely be longer than text reminders and can be better if you have a lot of additional information to include. Try these templates for your email messages.
1. Longer Reminder
Hello, Aisha,
This is a friendly reminder about your appointment with Dr. Isabella Lopez.
Your appointment is:
- Tuesday, July 12
- 3:00 p.m.
Confirm your appointment [hyperlink] or add this to your schedule [calendar link].
Please arrive at least 15 minutes early to fill out new patient paperwork. Parking is available on the east side of the building. Bring your ticket to our office for validation.
We look forward to seeing you then!
The Team at University Dermatology
Suite 1221
555-555-5555
2. Shorter Reminder
Hi, Emily,
Just a reminder that you have an appointment with Dr. Mei Young in our Downtown office on 8/7 at 9:30 a.m.
Thanks!
Healthy Smiles Dental Practice
3. Missed Appointment
Hello, Sofia,
We missed you at your appointment on 9/21. Please click the link below to reschedule:
[Reschedule hyperlink]
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Millcreek Family Practice
4. Appointments for Multiple Family Members
Hello!
This is a reminder about your upcoming appointments at our Riverside location. Your appointments are:
November 14
- Hiroshi Tanaka 2:30 p.m.
- Akiko Tanaka 3:00 p.m.
- Kenji Tanaka 3:30 p.m.
We’ll see you then!
Bridge City Optical
Telephone Call Reminders
When you call patients to remind them of their appointments, you say the same thing on a call that you would in a text or email. For example:
- Hello, this is Jane from Dr. Isabella Lopez’s office calling to remind Aisha that you have an appointment on July 12 at 3:00 at University Dermatology.
- Hi, this is Healthy Smiles Dental Practice. We’re calling to remind Emily that you are due for your cleaning.
If you leave a voicemail, invite the patient to call to cancel or reschedule. Be sure to say your phone number clearly, and consider repeating it.
How Rectangle Health can Help
At Rectangle Health, we designed our Bridge™ Engagement solution to help medical and dental offices wow their patients by making it easy to engage with their providers. As part of our Practice Management Bridge® platform, Bridge Engagement automatically sends patient reminders and streamlines administrative operations.
This platform detects missed appointments and cancellations, so you can be proactive about reaching out to patients to reschedule. The Fill My Schedule Now feature automatically contacts patients due for an appointment, helping you fill open slots and maximize revenue.
We designed Practice Management Bridge with the highest compliance to keep your practice, your PHI, and your patients’ payment information secure. We’re a PCI Level 1 service provider, P2Pe validated, PCI DSS compliant, and HIPAA compliant. Our solution is easy to implement and use since it integrates with the EHR, EMR, or PMS you already have, offering one platform connecting all your management systems.
To learn about all the ways Rectangle Health can enhance your healthcare practice, request a demo today.
References:
Chen, A. M. (2023, November 26). Socioeconomic and demographic factors predictive of missed appointments in outpatient radiation oncology: An evaluation of access. Front. Health Serv., 3:1288329. https://doi.org/10.3389/frhs.2023.1288329
Kerai, A. (2023, July 21). Cell phone usage statistics: Mornings are for notifications. Reviews.org. https://www.reviews.org/mobile/cell-phone-addiction/
Medical Group Management Association. (2023, August 9). Patient no-shows holding steady at medical groups in 2023.https://www.mgma.com/mgma-stat/patient-no-shows-holding-steady-at-medical-groups-in-2023