How To Reduce No-Shows In Private Practice
No-shows can be frustrating because you've prepared for the session and blocked off the time so you cannot see other clients. There are many reasons a client may not show up for a session, from being disorganised to legitimate emergencies.
Below are ways you can reduce no-shows in your Private Practice.
Set Expectations
When you meet with clients for the intro call, set the expectations early. Whether that’s advising them how therapy works best or getting confirmation for a weekly or fortnightly commitment on a confirmed day and time.
Whatever expectations you want to set for your clients, tell them this verbally as soon as possible to ensure you are getting the clients that are right for you.
Schedule
Sticking to a firm weekly/fortnightly schedule can help with the reduction of no-shows. When you take on a client offering them a confirmed “slot” will help clients schedule therapy into their week.
Offering ad hoc or book when you like sessions can have an impact on no-shows as clients have not scheduled this in like they would with a fixed day and time.
Admin
Welcome Email
As I talked about in my Onboarding blog a welcome email is a useful tool in communicating your Practice policies. Outlining your cancellation and no-show policy here can help reduce no-shows but also help you enforce the policy.
No-Show Policy
The important thing here is actually having a no-show policy. You will first need to think about what you’ll do if the client is a no-show. Some questions to think about.
Will you text or email them?
How long will you wait for them if you don’t hear from them?
How will you follow up with them?
What is your payment policy for no-shows?
What is your rebooking policy?
How many times can they no-show before you’ll remove them from your current client list?
Answering these questions will create your no-show policy and help you stick to it if you ever need to. It will also create fairness so that all clients have the same response to a no-show.
Paperwork
Once you have your no-show policy in place ensure to add it to your therapy agreement. You can of course make exceptions for special circumstances but having it in writing will help you hold the boundary with the client if needed.
Invoicing
I would recommend invoicing for sessions upfront which will help you avoid the “Please pay me for the session you didn’t attend” conversation. If you already have the payment upfront it's much easier to stick to your policy.
As a side note if you are manually invoicing, think about invoicing a month in advance for the sessions. I talk about this in my invoicing blog and the benefits of invoicing this way.
Send Confirmations / Reminders
This seems like an obvious way to reduce no-shows but sending out an appointment confirmation or reminder can reduce no-shows. This may be more admin for you but there are ways you can schedule these into everyday activities to make it easier for you.
Use Google Calendar to send clients appointment invites (they can then add that directly to their online calendar)
At the end of each day send out a text or email reminder to all the clients you are due to see the next day
Send an email or text after the client's appointment to confirm the next one
This will vary greatly on your client group so use these as examples of what you could offer your clients to reduce no-shows.
Online EHR System
Using an Electronic Health Record system can also help reduce no-shows in Private Practice. You can build in automated booking confirmations, appointment reminders and invoices. You will also help you keep a record of attended appointments, rescheduled appointments, cancellations and no-shows. This can help you make an informed decision about clients.
They have additional benefits for Private Practice too and you can read all about my favourite system HERE.
Conclusion
If you’re currently experiencing no-shows, what reasons are your clients giving for them? Would a reminder have made a difference? Have you charged them for the missed sessions? It may not be possible to eliminate no-shows altogether, you can however reduce them with these strategies.
If you need help with any of your Private Practice administration, systems or processes you can book a free discovery call to discuss your needs or visit the work with us section to see how we can help you.
