![]() It's also smart to review these nine considerations before your loved one is discharged to ensure the home is ready. These appointments are critical for certain care needs such as necessary prescription updates, blood tests, incision and wound care, and follow-up X-rays and CT scans that help ensure your loved one is on the right track to recovery. As a bonus, they can provide support and encouragement for family caregivers.īefore your senior loved one leaves the hospital, you'll likely receive a list of scheduled and/or recommended follow-up medical appointments. It’s time to consider how telemedicine can be used in your practice to make follow ups easier for patients and providers.Follow-up appointments with doctors and therapists are an important part of recovering from a hospitalization. When patients were asked about their experience using telemedicine for follow up appointments, 90 percent responded that they were “fully satisfied” with their virtual medical visit. By enabling patients to attend their appointments virtually from anywhere, regardless of a broken down car or a work meeting that can’t be moved, you should be able to reduce the number of no-shows and recoup some lost revenue.īut what do patients think of virtual follow up visits? Just check out this recent study of neurological patients at a New Mexico-based VA medical center for the answer. ![]() Work/family conflicts and transportation issues are two big reasons why patients miss appointments. This holds true for follow up appointments as well- if you need a patient to follow up within a month, try to find an appointment time as close to a month away as possible.Ĭonsider offering a secure, HIPAA-compliant video conferencing system. ![]() Scheduling appointments too far in advance not only results in patients forgetting about them, but also can result in frustration. The average wait time for a medical appointment is currently around nineteen days. If a patient rarely checks email but is glued to their phone, a text message or phone call from a staff member might be the better option.īook patients as soon as possible. Finding out how your patients prefer to be contacted helps increase the effectiveness of appointment reminders. Robocalls, text messages, emails- with the rise of the digital patient, there are more ways than ever to reach out to your patients. Send the appointment reminders your patients prefer. ![]() So how can you break through the barriers preventing patients from following up? With these numbers in mind, it’s easy to see that getting patients to attend follow up appointments is one area where many physicians have fallen short. Interestingly, we discovered that the largest percentage of missed appointments occur- you guessed it!- within the 6-12 month follow up period. How much notice should patients give in order to not be charged? How much should you charge? And are they even effective at getting patients to cancel appointments in advance next time? This system seems to cause more issues than it solves. Some physicians charge a nominal fee for missed appointments, a practice that has been controversial. The consequences can go beyond the impact on a patient’s health: patient no-shows can cost up to $150,000 a year in lost revenue. If your practice is anything like the average, it’s not uncommon to experience no-show rates between 5 and 10 percent. As a busy physician, there’s nothing more stressful or frustrating than patients who miss appointments. ![]()
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