Reasons Why Dental Patients Cancel Appointments

Frequent patient cancelations can be a huge issue for some dental practices. Patient cancelations will happen, even in the most successful dental practices. But in some offices, cancelations are much too common and may begin to affect the bottom line. Your time is money and it’s important that you find out why patients are canceling so that you can fix the problem and take back control of your office!

Reasons Why Dental Patients Cancel Appointment

Below are a few reasons why your patients may be canceling appointments at your office:

• Your system is suffering – If you haven’t properly conveyed the importance of your time to your patients, they may take advantage of this. You need to clearly outline your cancelation policy so that your patients know the consequences of canceling before the acceptable deadline. If you don’t have a cancelation policy, put one in place!
• Patients don’t value appointments – Patients know they should receive regular checkups, but they may not understand the importance of these appointments. Let them know what to expect if they neglect their dental health and they may take their appointments more seriously.
• You’re pursing the wrong patients – Some patients are notorious for last-minute cancelations or no-showing. Be sure to note this in the patient’s file so that your staff knows to avoid putting them on the schedule. You don’t need to accept every patient, especially those who do not respect your time.
• You allow it to happen in the first place – When you allow patients to chronically cancel, you’re communicating with them that this is ok. While extreme cases are likely to be rare, repeat offenders should be paying consequences, like a last-minute cancelation fee.

Frequent cancelations will eventually begin to harm your dental practice. Make sure that you have policies in place so that your patients know the value of their dental appointments and your time. For more information on how you can increase the success of your dental practice, please contact CTC Associates today.