Q:

I'm looking at ways to stay in front of my patients faces, is there 
anything you recommend other than the traditional newsletter, 
holiday and birthday cards?  Is 6 mailings per year sufficient?  Are 
there "form" newsletter you recommend?

Also, helping patients stick to / remember their care plan can be an 
organizational nightmare.  How do you recommend contacting missed 
appointments and reminding patients scheduled 2-3 months out?
It almost seems I would need another staff person to handle all of 
this.


A:

Thanks for the e-mail. As far as a reminder .. we have post cards 
that the patients addresses themselves that we send to them as a 
reminder. I also have a database of patients that ned to be reminded 
and we print lables the begining of each month and sends them out 
when the date comes close.

If the missed appt is within the week or two of a scheduled appt. 
call them and leave a message with the script saying .. "we have you 
scheduled for the past week and you have missed these visits. We 
are obviously concerned about our patients and therefore have placed 
your name in our appointment book for Thursday at 10:00. If you are 
unable to be here .. please give us a call."

This is better than simply asking them to call you. BUT .. there is no 
magic .. patient education is on going and the key. 

As far as newsletters etc. I send a monthly e-mail newsletter each 
month .. at least. I also print these newsletters and the CA hands 
them out to present patients. As far as commercial professional 
chiropractic newsletters .. they are all good .. shop around and see 
what fits you best.

Have a Great Day

Dr. M