Last week I talked about patient reminders being a great strategy to get patients to schedule a visit, and this week I want to talk about Reminders’ cousin Recall, another great strategy to increase patient visits. Afterall, it's 90% cheaper to retain a patient than to recruit a new one, so let's discuss recall campaigns.
Recall campaigns encourage patients to return to your health center. My former health center ran several recall campaigns by reaching out to existing patients who met specific criteria by sending letters or making phone calls.
A recall strategy ensures they schedule appointments, preventing gaps in care, treatment plans, or medication continuity. Recalls are also a great strategy to increase patient visits, which will increase patient revenue. Win-win
Here are some examples of the criteria we used for our recall campaigns:
1 They hadn't been in for a year but were still getting prescription refills from their provider.
2 Patients who hadn't had a routine checkup in over a year.
3 Patients who hadn't had their teeth cleaned in more than six months.
4 Patients with two or more chronic diseases hadn't been seen in 6 months.
5 Patients whose A1C was higher than nine at their last appointment.
Numerous other factors can prompt the recall of an existing patient, which can be highly effective in encouraging them to book an appointment.
One effective method of encouraging patients to schedule another appointment is to have a clinical administrative assistant, nurse, or clinical support staff member contact them via phone. Even if the patient doesn't answer the call and only receives the message, they're more likely to take action and schedule the appointment than if they had not received a prompt.
Mail, email, and portal messages are also great ways to get information to the patient. These messages allow staff to provide more details than leaving a message, so they're an excellent way to communicate with a patient.
Text messages are also very effective and can be sent using texting software to decrease manual staff time.
Patient recalls are essential to keeping your patients returning. These strategies will improve patient retention and increase patient satisfaction. It'll also help your health center avoid losing money on missed appointments and ensure patients get the necessary care.
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