An effective recall strategy is essential to meeting revenue goals and keeping patients on the schedule. And an efficient recall system requires strategically using recall message reports to refine your practice schedule and prevent patients from falling through the cracks.
Vital Interaction’s Automated Patient Interaction System’s Recall Report feature provides an easy way for practices to track the status of messages sent and appointments booked as a result of a recall. Depending on how your recall system is set up, certain workflows can help maximize the success of recalls and keep patients on the schedule.
Related: Click here to read more about smart scheduling strategies for securing a higher patient retention rate.
Your recall setup will determine how to best generate and use your reports. Here are five considerations to keep top of mind when configuring your recall message system and using recall reports to create a solid patient schedule.
Do Your Recall Messages Include a Confirm/Decline Option?
Our team recommends inserting Confirm/Decline fields into your recall setup because it allows your practice to track those patients who are wanting an appointment and those who aren’t.
Not sure if you have this option enabled? Simply go to Tools > CMT > Associated messages > Recalls.
If a Confirm/Decline option is in place, then the confirmation response becomes particularly important.
What Content Should You Incorporate in Recall Message Confirmation Responses?
Consider the confirmation response an additional direction that informs the patient of next steps.
Let’s say a patient has confirmed, either by hitting the Y button in a text-message reminder, the number nine in a voice-call reminder, or “Confirm” in an email reminder.
What are the next steps you want the patient to take?
Let’s take a look at a couple of key questions and two different workflows to help you develop your next automated response:
1. Does your practice call and schedule appointments upon confirm?
Of course, this depends on your practice’s preferences and resources. If, for example, upon confirm, the response states, “Thank you for letting us know you want to schedule an appointment. You will receive a call to schedule,” the patient is now expecting a call to schedule.
2. Do you run a busy practice and prefer to direct patients to call and schedule?
In this case, your response could be something along the lines of: “Thank you for letting us know you would like to schedule an appointment. Please call us at [facility phone number] to schedule.”
Using Recall Message Reports to Your Advantage
When a patient confirms, the software user will receive an email notification, letting them know a patient has requested to schedule an appointment.
Confirmations can then be seen in the reports. More importantly, you can check to see if the patient has a future appointment.*
*Note: Future appointments are reflected the following day after syncing with your Practice Management System. Message responses such as confirms are instantaneous.
To view recalls, simply go to Message Reports > Facility Reports, and select “Recall.” Then, click the “Recall” button.
Recalls are slightly different than appointment reminders in that the begin time can be sent in the past. For example, if a patient has confirmed but never booked an appointment, this is a great opportunity to follow up.
Best Patient Recall Workflow Practices Using Comments and Actions
To view patients who have confirmed wanting to schedule an appointment but who haven’t yet been scheduled:
- Select a date range. You may need to go back in time, depending on workflow.
- Select “Confirmed” under the Message Status scroll bar and “No” under the Future Appointment one.
In our experience, we’ve found it’s good practice to leave comments each time a patient has been followed up with. An additional step is to check the box under “Action.” This will help narrow down future search parameters depending on your workflow.
For example, if you call a patient to follow up and successfully book an appointment, “Action” can mean, then, that no further action is needed. “Action Taken” and “Action Not Taken” are both available filter options.
To view successfully scheduled appointments, select “Yes” under the Future Appointment tab.
Recall Message Search Parameters and Message-status Breakdowns
For message status breakdown, scroll to the bottom of the report.
To print, select “Print” at the top of the report.
You can then use the data from the Recall Report to get a clear picture of your patient schedule and to inform your decisions in refining your recall message system, and ultimately, your schedule.
You can find other helpful guides on our VI Support website. If you have any questions or need assistance setting up your Recall Reports, we are always an email away at support@vitalinteraction.com.
Sending recall messages to your patients is an important first step. And following up with them will ensure that you get the most value from your recall campaign. Try one of the proven techniques we’ve described here.
Our team is always here to answer any questions you may have. To speak with a Vital Interaction team member, call (512) 487-7625 or visit our website .