The Power of a Highlighter

1. New patient arrives.

2. The Receptionist gathers the forms that the patient needs to fill out.

NOTE: You MUST have a line in your Financial Policy that the patient signs that says, “We reserve the right to charge $25.00 for a missed appointment without a 24-hour notice.” You will need a line next to this that the patient will initial.

3. The Receptionist takes out a yellow highlighter and smiles pleasantly at the patient while highlighting the Cancellation/No Show Policy. This gets the patient to put their attention on the policy.

4. Receptionist then says, “I just need you to fill out these forms. I want you to pay careful attention to the highlighted area and make sure you initial next to the highlighted area.”

5. If the patient comments on the policy the Receptionist then states, “It says that we reserve the right to charge for the missed appointment. I am sure that you wouldn’t consider skipping your appointments without calling with enough advanced notice, but others are not as considerate. This policy permits us to reserve the right to charge a $25.00 fee for the missed appointment.”

NOTE: You will find that by doing this the patient is less apt to miss the appointment as the patient would not want to be thought to be inconsiderate.

6. Place a sign at your desk that simple states, “We reserve the right to charge $25.00 for a missed appointment without a 24-hour notice. Make sure that you place this sign within arm’s reach of the Receptionist.

There is more, but this should help. If you get the patient into the mindset that missing appointments are not okay from day one, you will have less cancellations.