Your practice has probably grown since then and keeping track of your patients and their appointments is becoming more of a challenge for both your patients and especially for your medical receptionist. You can help ease the burden on your front desk receptionist and the rest of your medical staff by investing in an email reminder or telephone reminder. A telephone or email reminder will remind patients of their appointment either online or via a telephone call according to your preference.

The success of your reminder service will directly affect the success of your practice. Deciding on which type of appointment reminder service will suit you best will be influenced by your practice and your patients. Check your patients’ personal records for their contact information. If most of them have email addresses then an email reminder would be suitable. If most of your patients do not have email addresses then a telephone reminder would be more logical.

You ought to consider the type of practice you are running and the type of people you receive as patients. If majority of your patients are elderly or from poor neighborhoods, an email reminder may not reach as many of your patients as you would like. Even if these patients had email addresses they would not spend much time surfing as they either cannot afford to or do not know how to. An email reminder would be suitable in a practice where the patients have access to the Internet and check their emails regularly.

Doctors should also consider the preference of their patients. Some patients will be irritated by receiving telephone calls reminding them of appointments at regular intervals. Such patients would much rather have an email reminder sent to their email addresses. Others would prefer to be alerted via telephone as they are probably prone to forgetting about their appointments easily. This is especially true for elderly patients.

Both a telephone and email reminder are only 90% effective. No doctor can be assured 100% of the successful delivery of all reminders on either service. A telephone reminder may not be delivered as the patient may not answer the telephone. An email reminder may not be read as the patient may fail to check his or her email in good time.

It is therefore advisable for a doctor to invest in both a telephone and email reminder. It may seem expensive in the beginning but the returns will be well worth it. Both services are inexpensive to maintain and working together will guarantee you a more successful delivery. Your patients can even choose the reminder service they prefer.

Above and beyond patients and clients forgetting about appointments, keep in mind those who call your office and become quickly annoyed. Many times, patients and clients have to be put on hold. Occasionally, whomever answers the phone in your office will be having a bad day, and that translates in tone to patients and clients. Between being put on hold, and dealing with a potentially angry staff member, there’s a risk in annoying your patients and clients! That’s why an appointment reminder service is vital to every medical practice and any small business who deals with appointments.

It is simple, easy, and much cheaper than paying someone to call patients and remind them to come in. With the appointment reminder system, everything is done electronically. Patients and clients will hear a friendly, calm voice telling them about their upcoming appointment. The friendly voice will also direct them to other services and even direct them to an interactive website where they can enter in all of their information. Not only are you getting an self-service online appointment scheduler, but it links in with a round the clock online system. This way patients and clients can go online and enter in insurance information, appointment preferences, and even send a note to the practice! This is personalized, convenient service at its best. And, the patients can do it all in the comfort of their own homes – anytime day or night! Patients like it because the automated patient reminder is fast, efficient, and doesn’t waste anyone’s time. Office staff like it because they don’t have to spend valuable time confirming appointments and you will like it because it will cut down on “no-shows” and help the bottom line!

Keep in mind all of the options you will have as well. The appointment reminder service can be programmed to say whatever you want it to say, in any language you want to say it in! And, clients and patients can log in and set up future appointments 24/7 as well. All of this for a fraction of what you pay office staff to perform these duties. And don’t forget, all of this syncs up through google sync with your handheld device so you will know exactly when you can fit in an extra appointment and exactly what your day looks like at a glance!