Calling and confirming patient appointments--operational, logistical, and human challenges

1. Staffing Constraints

• Front desk teams are stretched thin: They juggle check-ins, insurance verifications, billing, patient questions, and more.

• Manually calling every patient eats up significant time—especially when many calls go unanswered.

• Often, 1 front desk person is supporting multiple providers, making appointment management unsustainable without automation.

2. Low Answer Rates

• Patients often ignore unknown numbers or let calls go to voicemail.

• Many don’t check voicemail or forget to respond.

• Call screening and spam filters (especially on mobile phones) reduce connect rates.

3. Back-and-Forth Rescheduling

• When a patient wants to reschedule, the process becomes time-consuming:

  • Patient: “Can I do next Thursday instead?”

  • Staff: “We only have 10:30 or 3:00.”

  • Patient: “Let me check and call back.”This ping-pong game creates delays, friction, and unfilled appointment slots.

4. Last-Minute Cancellations or No-Shows

• If the confirmation call doesn’t happen (or is ignored), patients are more likely to forget or skip the appointment.

• This results in lost revenue and inefficient provider schedules.

• Many practices still rely on a single confirmation call, instead of layered reminders (text + call + email).

5. Poor or Nonexistent Integration

• Older practice management systems (like Dentrix, Eaglesoft, or RevolutionEHR) may not support:

  • Two-way texting

  • Smart scheduling

  • Automated call confirmation flows

• This forces manual calling and paper-based workflows, which are error-prone.

6. Calling Outside Patient Availability

• Offices usually call during business hours, but:

  • Many patients can’t take personal calls at work

  • Evening or weekend calling is rarely done

  • Result: Missed connections and unconfirmed slots

7. Cognitive Load on Staff

• Juggling calls, patients walking in, and insurance paperwork leads to:

  • Missed follow-ups

  • Forgotten voicemails

  • Incomplete call logsOver time, this creates an environment of stress and inconsistency in confirmations.

Summary: Why It's Challenging

Challenge	Impact
Limited staff time	Inconsistent confirmations
Low call pick-up rates	Missed communication
Manual rescheduling	Lost appointment time
Poor software integration	Redundant manual work
Missed reminders	Higher no-show rates

This is why many clinics are shifting to:

• Voice AI and SMS automation

• Two-way texting with smart rescheduling

• Layered reminder workflows (e.g., 3-day, 1-day, 2-hour reminders)