EMR scheduling software is rarely a separate purchase, because every chart system ships a calendar, and the question a small practice is really asking is whether the EHR scheduling it already pays for does the front desk's job. This page says what EMR scheduling does well, which is holding the diary against the chart, where an EMR scheduling system usually stops, which is the reminder schedule and the recall list, and what a practice adds on top without buying a second chart system. The free reminder template on this site sizes the reminder load from your own diary first.
What EHR scheduling does well
The calendar inside the chart system knows things a standalone diary cannot: the visit type and its duration, the clinician's template, the room, and the patient's record one click away. EHR scheduling is the right place to book the visit, and a practice should not move the booking out of it to please a scheduling vendor. Where the chart system wins is the link between the booking and the chart; where it is weakest is everything that happens between the booking and the visit, because that is not the chart's business.
Where an EMR scheduling system stops
Most EMR scheduling systems will send a reminder, but at a fixed lead time, in a fixed wording, with the reply going nowhere the front desk can work. Kheirkhah et al. 2016 measured a mean no-show rate of 18.8% across ten clinics and an average cost of $196 per missed appointment, and Dantas et al. 2018 found prior no-show history to be one of the two main determinants across 105 studies, which means the reply has to be recorded against the patient for the next reminder to be any better. The recall list, every patient due for a follow-up with no booking, is the other gap: the chart knows the patient is due; the calendar does not show them.
What the front desk adds, without a second chart
The Cochrane 2013 review found mobile text reminders raised attendance from about 67.8% to 78.6%, risk ratio 1.14. The addition a practice needs is small and specific: the reminder at the lead time the practice chose, in the practice's own wording, the confirmation recorded, and the recall list worked from the desk. Recallvia Pro is $20 a month for exactly that, alongside the EMR scheduling software the practice already runs; the booking stays in the chart system and the reminders and the recall list run beside it.
Questions people ask about emr scheduling software
Should we replace our EMR scheduling software with a standalone diary?
No. Keep the booking in the chart system, where it is linked to the record, and add the reminder schedule and the recall list beside it.
Our EHR scheduling already sends a reminder. Is that enough?
It is if you can set the lead time, write the wording and see the replies as a list the front desk can call from. If the reminder goes out at a fixed time in the vendor's words and the reply vanishes, the front desk still has no record.
What is a recall list and why does the EMR not show it?
It is every patient who is due for a follow-up and has no booking. The chart knows they are due; the calendar shows only who is booked. The recall list is the difference between the two, and it is the receptionist's job for the quiet hour.
How much does a no-show cost?
Kheirkhah et al. 2016 measured $196 per missed visit in their clinics; the free template on this site uses your own visit value instead.
Sources
- Kheirkhah et al., Prevalence, predictors and economic consequences of no-shows, BMC Health Services Research 2016
- Dantas et al., No-shows in appointment scheduling, a systematic literature review, Health Policy 2018
- Gurol-Urganci et al., Mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2013