CDS Member News and Articles

Professional News Articles : FRONT DESK by Mary M. Byers, CAE : Pay attention to patient retention

Pay attention to patient retention

January 30, 2008

Is your office a revolving door when it comes to patients coming and going? If so, there’s gold in your inactive patient files. Here’s how to mine it.

Generate a report of patients past due for recall appointments over the last 12 months.  This list will be your starting point and let you know who you need to reconnect with. I suggest using a three-pronged approach.

Send a letter to every overdue patient. The letter should be brief and to the point. It represents the first connection you’ll have with past due patients. Let patients know you’ve missed them and that you’ll be calling soon to follow up. Include information about new services you offer, or existing services they may not know about (such as whitening). If you offer patient financing, be sure to include information about it as well, since this may increase scheduling. Send as many letters each week as you’ll be able to follow up with a personal phone call within the next two weeks.

Set aside time to call each patient. Assign a patient coordinator to make a specified number of calls per day or week. Though you don’t want to put patients on the defense, you should be direct in the reason for the call: to make an appointment for them. The coordinator could say something like, “Mrs. Jenson, I noticed that we haven’t seen you since last spring. Consequently, I’m calling for your convenience to see if we might be able to schedule an appointment for you next month.” This is the second prong of your approach with overdue patients.

Listen to patients. What are these past-due patients telling you? Have they left the practice for good? Are they experiencing financial problems? Are they phobic—or just too busy? Are practice hours not convenient for them? If you hear a recurring theme, be sure to let your practice owner know. There may be issues that need to be discussed in a staff meeting.

Send a reminder to those who appoint on the call. Ask patients if they’d like to receive a reminder via mail or e-mail, then honor their request. Be sure to confirm you have current mail or e-mail information before hanging up with patients so that you can easily send a reminder.

Send a recall notice to those who choose not to appoint on the phone call. These should be formally printed, enclosed in an envelope, and encourage the patient to call for an appointment. A handwritten note from the patient coordinator should say something like, “Just wanted to send a friendly reminder your way. I look forward to hearing from you to schedule an appointment.” Each card should be personally signed. This represents the third contact you’ll make with past due patients if they didn’t make an appointment when you called.

Though this three-pronged approach requires an investment of time and money, it makes both dollars and cents for your practice. The cost of producing and mailing letters and follow up cards, as well as the staff time required to make the follow up calls, is minimal compared to the cost of finding new patients, since it costs five times as much to attract new patients as it does to retain current ones. Financially, it makes more sense to start with inactive patients then it does to try to find new ones.

CDS presents Front Desk, a column addressing problems dentists and staff members experience in the office. Front Desk is prepared by Mary M. Byers, CAE, a professional speaker and freelance writer. Ms. Byers may be reached at mbyers@marybyers.com or www.marybyers.com. Send suggestions for topics to be covered to review@cds.org.

© 2008, Chicago Dental Society