Managing last minute cancels
Hey all. This is partially a rant and partially looking for advice. I work at an outpatient orthopedic pelvic floor clinic. We’ve recently changed our late cancel/no show policy to be more strict. We charge 100 dollars for last minute cancels (less than 24 hours) but give patients the option to do a telehealth visit instead. We inform patients of this policy in their written paperwork, on the phone when they’re scheduling and verbally again in their first appointment. Even with that, we have a lot of push back from mad patients and/or people opting for telehealth last minute with poor participation (camera off, barely speaking, in their car or somewhere else they cannot actually actively participate). It’s getting frustrating and burning me out. However, if I don’t enforce this policy, I end up having weird gaps in the day with people on the waitlist who didn’t have enough time to pick up an appointment. I’m curious what other clinics have tried and what has worked for them and what hasn’t because this has been draining.