What goes wrong today
Practices tend to pick a cadence once and never revisit it. Too early and the patient forgets again; too late and they cannot rearrange their day. Too many and they stop reading them entirely, which is worse than sending none.
Retention
Appointment Reminder Timing and Cadence
How many reminders, how far ahead, and on which channel.
How many reminders, how far ahead, and on which channel.
Practices tend to pick a cadence once and never revisit it. Too early and the patient forgets again; too late and they cannot rearrange their day. Too many and they stop reading them entirely, which is worse than sending none.
What good looks like
A cadence that gives the patient a real chance to act — far enough out to rearrange, close enough to remember — with the ability to cancel in the reminder so an early cancellation becomes a filled slot.
- Timing that leaves room to rearrange, not just remember
- Action possible inside the reminder
- Channel preference respected
- Stops once the patient confirms
What to measure
Agree these before changing anything, so the effect is visible rather than argued about.
- No-show rate by reminder cadence
- Share of reminders acted on
- Cancellations received more than 24h out
Where we stand: Available now
Reminder scheduling and response handling run today.
Rollout checklist
- Document how this is handled today, and by whom.
- Put a number on the hours or dollars involved.
- Decide which cases must always reach a person.
- Agree the metrics you will judge success on.
Frequently asked questions
Do you solve this today?
Reminder scheduling and response handling run today.
How do we know if this is our biggest gap?
The Front Desk Opportunity Scan ranks this against every other area using your own volumes.
Keep going on MedReception.ai
MedFrontDesk.ai is the playbook library. MedReception.ai is the platform that runs it.