No Show Policy

[Harry3990]

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I was curious about this and was wondering if people would be willing to share the following:

Generally, what your (or your office's) policy regarding clients who no show for appointments?
Do you charge clients the full or partial fee for missed appointments?
If so, how is this done? (e.g., send bill via mail, inform them at their next appointment, keep credit card on file and charge it directly, inform collection agencies, etc.)
Lastly, are you paid based on billable hours?

I have knowledge of some examples in my community of what people tend to do, but it seems to vary a lot and also is a relatively small sample. Thanks very much for any info you're willing to share.

 

[deleted480308]

I have a friend who works in the field, their office charges full price for any missed appointments. You must be paid up before they will schedule a new one. They do lose a number of patients that way but their recidivism for people missing is pretty low.

 

[smalltownpsych]

Our policy is three no shows and then you end up on the naughty list. No charge for missed appointments. Pay is based on billable hours. I let my more reliable patients book out in advance further and people who have no shows have a tougher time rescheduling. Having a booked solid schedule is a good disincentive for missing appointments. 32 patients showed up out of my available 40 slots last week and that is fairly typical. The week before was 38 which is probably my record.

 

[bcliff]

Our policy is three no shows and then you end up on the naughty list. No charge for missed appointments. Pay is based on billable hours. I let my more reliable patients book out in advance further and people who have no shows have a tougher time rescheduling. Having a booked solid schedule is a good disincentive for missing appointments. 32 patients showed up out of my available 40 slots last week and that is fairly typical. The week before was 38 which is probably my record.

smalltown -- how many total hours do you typically work a week? 40 billable hours seems impressive/really high.


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[psych844]

I'd make a new rule. You miss an appointment you pay double the rate. lol 😉

 

[NotTheHoff]

Services at the practice I used to work for were primarily paid through insurance. No Shows were charged $100 out of pocket. Typically this was paid when people paid at their next appointment, but card information was on file in case they never came again (they'd be called and informed of the charge being put on their card in those cases). Three strikes could lead to end of services and/or referral elsewhere.

I was paid through billable hours. We had nothing in writing, though my boss pushed for at least 30 billable hours/week. I was doing post-doc hours, so I usually met this with ease.

 

[DynamicDidactic]

I'd make a new rule. You miss an appointment you pay double the rate. lol 😉

then tar and feather

 

[smalltownpsych]

smalltown -- how many total hours do you typically work a week? 40 billable hours seems impressive/really high.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

40 hours a week 8 to 5 and I'm out of here. It helps that I can dictate notes and reports and have someone score tests for me. I do work a little more when I'm on call but those are billable hours too. Department meetings are scheduled during lunch once a month. We don't waste much time around here.