We have been using SMS reminders for about a year now and its been great. Our practice Management software, Front Desk 2005 www.smartsoft.com.au, can be set up to send reminders out automatically every day.
It works with standard letter tags so each one is formatted with the patients name and appointment time and asking them to confirm by return SMS which we then receive via e mail.
A few things to keep in mind though,
•Lots of patients have mobiles but don’t use SMS, so we ask a. Do you have a mobile? and b. do you use SMS?
•Patients can also cancel by return SMS which we don’t like because it robs you of the opportunity of offering them another time on the spot, thus saving the booking.
•It’s faster and cheaper than reception making phone calls
•It's much more efficient than leaving messages that you don’t know if the patient received or not!
I was visiting the Austin Hospital in Melbourne yesterday and they have large posters up saying that 100 patients per day fail to attend their appointments and asking them to please ring and reschedule.
I'm not sure what the failure rate would be expressed as a percentage of total appointments made but it still sounds like a lot!
Most hospital med/surg Op clinics have FTA rates of 20%-40%
For Allied Health Clinics it is a bit lower at 10%-20%
The high FTA rate for med/surg OP is due to a number of factors including patients booking at more than one hospital for the same specialty; The problem having resolved due to a 3-6 month wait for appiontment; Elderly people can forget things etc. etc.