Appointment reminder template
- Reminder messages the template pack sends per week
- 240
- Appointments booked per week
- 120
- No-shows per week at your rate
- 23
- Visit revenue at risk per week, dollars
- 3,420
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs you enter, by the method stated below it. The only constants Recallvia supplies are the published no-show rates, the reminder effect measured by the Cochrane review and the vendor prices, each cited where it is used. The defaults are a worked example to replace with your own.
The figures above start from a worked example (240). Change any input and the answer updates as you type.
Download the Appointment reminder template worked example (CSV)
This sizes the appointment reminder pack before anyone writes a message. Enter the appointments booked per day, the days the practice is open, your no-show rate today, the reminders sent per appointment, the days ahead the first one goes out, the average value of a visit and the minutes a reminder takes by hand, and the page returns the reminder messages per week, the appointments per week, the no-shows per week at your rate, the visit revenue at risk, the hours a week spent sending by hand, and the messages the pack needs: one per reminder touch, a confirmation reply and a missed-appointment follow-up. A reminder pack is a document with a sending load behind it; these are the figures, from your own diary.
The no-show rate is the number that decides what the pack is worth
Kheirkhah et al. 2016 measured a mean no-show rate of 18.8% across 10 clinics, from 12.6% in audiology to 25.7% in gastroenterology, and an average cost of $196 per no-show; Dantas et al. 2018, reviewing 105 studies, put the average across specialties at roughly 23%. The worksheet takes your own rate, because a dental practice with a mature hygiene recall runs well below a walk-in clinic, and prints the no-shows a week and the visit revenue behind them so the pack is sized against your diary and not a published average.
Two touches, days ahead and the day before, is the shape the evidence supports
The Cochrane 2013 review found text message reminders raised attendance from approximately 67.8% to 78.6% across 7 studies and 5,841 participants, a risk ratio of 1.14. Dantas et al. 2018 name high lead time between booking and visit as one of the two main determinants of a no-show, which is the argument for the first touch going out days ahead, when the patient can still rearrange and the slot can still be refilled, and the second the day before. The worksheet takes the touches and the lead time as inputs so a practice can try three touches against two and see the sending load.
The hours by hand are the cost nobody puts on the invoice
Twenty-four appointments a day, five days a week, two reminders each, at two minutes a reminder, is eight hours of a receptionist's week spent sending messages that a schedule could send. The page prints the hours so the practice can compare them with the software it is considering, and so the decision to keep sending by hand is made with the number in front of it rather than assumed to be free.
Appointment reminder template: common questions
Is this a free appointment reminder template? Yes: the reminders per week, the no-shows, the revenue at risk, the hours and the messages the pack needs are computed here for free with no account, and the dental and medical text and email wording is on the page to copy. Recallvia Pro turns it into the sending schedule under your practice name, with the confirmations recorded against each appointment.
What should an appointment reminder say? The date, the time, the practice name and number, one line on what to bring or do before the visit, and a question that makes the reply a confirmation. The dental and medical variants in the pack differ in the pre-visit line and the tone, not the structure; the missed-appointment follow-up asks the patient to rebook rather than telling them off.
How far ahead should the first reminder go? Far enough that the patient can rearrange and the practice can refill the slot, which for most practices is a few days rather than the morning of. The worksheet takes the lead time as an input; the Cochrane and Dantas evidence cited on the page is the reason a first touch goes out days ahead.
Where the constants in this tool come from
Kheirkhah et al., Prevalence, predictors and economic consequences of no-shows, BMC Health Services Research 2016. The measured no-show rate and cost per no-show the worksheet's default rate is set beside.
Gurol-Urganci et al., Mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments, Cochrane 2013. The measured effect of a text reminder on attendance.
Dantas et al., No-shows in appointment scheduling, a systematic literature review, Health Policy 2018. The average no-show rate across specialties and the two main determinants.