I understand that doctors offices probably lose a lot of money on missed appointments, but I think appointment reminders are seriously out of control right now.
Every time I or my kids have an appointment for the doctor, I receive:
--2 email reminders (Which unfortunately only tells me that I have a "message" and I then have to log on to the system to find out that I'm just being reminded about an appointment and not being told that I have some horribly abnormal lab)
--One phone call reminder
--One text message reminder
--if it's the dentist, we also get a postcard
And in addition to all that, my own phone gives me a reminder. I suppose I could cancel that in light of all the other reminders I get, but I'm sure if I do, all the others will become dysfunctional.
I understand their dilemma, but is there any point at which I can say that this is bordering on harassment?
Or it could be like my clinic, who when calling to remind patients, especially ones who have booked multiple appts (for sibs), gives the time of the last appt time. So everyone shows up late, missing the earlier appts....ugh
ReplyDeleteI just get SMS reminders here, but we reply back to them with Yes for attending appt and No for not attending, so I really think that is an optimal solution. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd even with all that (ok ours only gives 3 reminders as text and phone call) there are STILL many who don't come to their appointments!
ReplyDelete