Patient Scheduling Software

Self scheduled appointments are have a risk of no-show just like manually booked ones. However, there are tactics you can use to reduce no-show rates to near zero.

1. Automated reminders - Most clinics do have this in place, but I have to mention it here as the first step to address no-show rates for any appointments (manual or automatically booked)
2. Advertise no-show fees (during booking). Advertising a no-show fee at the time the patient books online does wonders to motivate them (by setting a social contract) they agreed to. It’s often the social pressure and inconvenience of being chased for a no-show fee, as well as understanding the financial impetus for the clinic that motivates patient behaviour here as well.
3. Just let them cancel. If patients can’t make an appointment, the online reminder system should encourage them to cancel rather than no-show. If the patient can cancel easily, they’ll do so and another patient will fill their spot quickly (if you have automated online booking)
4. Automate no-show fee enforcement. When patient schedule their appointment, Cortico can automatically block them from booking if they have a pending no-show fee. This filters out the worst actors. We recommend this be done only for cases where the above actions don’t work, since it may restrict patient access to care (so, should be reserved for repeat offenders).

For practices that start with online booking from day one, it tends to be straightforward for every patient to learn about online booking and they will naturally prefer this option since it’s faster and more convienent than calling in. However, established practices that switch from manual to automated patient scheduling may struggle to transition patients from their habits of calling the clinic. Here are some proven tactics to transition patients to online booking:

1. Mention online booking in your clinic’s phone greeting message. “Hello and welcome to ABC Medical! The fastest way to schedule an appointment is on our website abcmedical.cortico.health.”
2. Add a “Booking poster” with a QR code to abcmedical.cortico.health
3. In your clinic email/messaging signature, include ‘Book online at abcmedical.cortico.health’.
4. Encourage your staff and doctors to recommend online booking to patients.
5. Mass email your patients to let them know about online booking, with a direct link to book online.
6. Link your Google My Business profile directly to your online booking URL, so patients can book directly from there.
7. Update your Cortico access to care network profile.

Together, these tactics should allow you to reach high double digits of online booking adoption. If you’re still struggling, please reach out to our team at help@cortico.health. We are here to make sure our patient scheduling software works for you!

Yes! While traditional healthcare scheduling software didn’t support most specialist workflows, Cortico is specifically designed with specialist workflows in mind, including per-patient constrainted booking links that enforce a specific provder, time range, and intake process. This gives staff control of booking without doing the work of manually reaching out to patients, and a day of work manually booking can be reduced to setting up a few constraints for 20 minutes.