Patients increasingly bombarded by text and email appointment reminders

A few weeks before a recent checkup with my ophthalmologist, I received a text reminder to confirm the appointment. The message asked me to arrive 15 minutes early and to bring my insurance card, medication list and photo identification. Normally, I would have thought that was a good thing. But later that day, I received an email with the same information, and more appointment reminders over text and email a week before the doctor visit, and again a couple of days later.

It's not the only practice I've been to recently that has made me crazy with appointment reminders. A recent article from CNN shows I'm not alone. Journalists could localize this story by investigating what is happening near them.

The age of multiple reminders

Doctors and dentist offices for years called patients, sent a postcard in the mail or left a courtesy voice message at patients' homes reminding them of appointments, in an effort to reduce no-shows, the article said. Now, thanks to new software systems that enable providers to send automated messages to patients, you're likely to receive multiple reminders - by text, email, phone and/or messages through online patient portals.

Are no-shows to blame?

No-shows are costly for medical practices. The average cost of a missed appointment was estimated at $200 in 2022, according to a report by Artera, a digital health company that specializes in patient communications. Across the country, no-shows are estimated to cost medical practices $150 billion annually. The actual financial hit can vary by specialty as well as any resources or equipment that would have been assigned to the patient but then not used.

But there is a serious downside to the business of multiple messages. The constant influx of reminders can overwhelm and frustrate patients, leading to an increased likelihood of missed appointments or unnecessary rescheduling, according to an article from Avetalive, therefore completely defeating the purpose. And "patients may feel bombarded with information, causing them to tune out important messages or become disengaged from their healthcare providers. This, in turn, can lead to a breakdown in communication and hinder the delivery of effective care."

Data-sharing concerns

There's another issue irking patients: Their information is being shared with a wider network of databases and strangers.

Because people are booking appointments so far in advance, it's likely that plans will change and they'll wind up canceling or rescheduling, according to the CNN story. Patients are 4% more likely to cancel with every day that passes between their booking and appointment time, the story said. Still, as a whole, primary care specialties saw only a slight increase in cancellation rates, from 8.3% in 2020 to 10% in 2022.

The good news is that some providers are recognizing the trend and starting to do something about it.

"We've recognized that our patients are feeling bombarded," Emily Kagan Trenchard, chief of consumer digital solutions at Northwell Health in New York, told CNN. Endless notifications are "not the way to keep them engaged," she said.

The health system used to have five different systems to notify patients via text, email and phone calls and is now consolidating these, which should result in less hounding.

Reducing the bombardment messages

Health care providers can explore alternative approaches to communication to reduce the bombardment of messages, the Avetalive article said. These can include:

• Sending tailored reminders based on individual patient preferences and needs.
• Allowing patients to choose their preferred method of communication and frequency of reminders.
• Implementing patient portals or mobile applications to provide patients with a centralized platform to access appointment information.
• Investing in patient education initiatives to ensure patients understand the importance of attending their appointments.
• Regularly evaluating the effectiveness of appointment reminder systems and soliciting patient feedback.

Questions to ask when covering this topic

• What are medical practices doing in their area?
• What kind of feedback are they receiving from patients?
• Are the notifications reducing the no-show rate?
• How do they take into account patient preference for communications, health literacy, and patients for whom English is not their primary language?
• Finally, what steps are they taking to ensure patient privacy?

Resources

• Why your doctor's office is spamming you with appointment reminders - an article from CNN.
• Here's why patients are being bombarded with doctor's appointment reminders - an article from MSN.
• Patients inundated with too many appointment reminders - an article from Avetalive.