Cancellations.. what do I do?

If your patients are cancelling your scheduled appointments it can be quite upsetting especially when they cancel at the door or do not let you in. We understand that your time is valuable and this can be upsetting, but we want you to know that this is part of doing business. We do have some suggestions:

1. Keep an extra patient on caseload- knowing that if a patient cancels (which will happen) you are ok financially and your schedule is ok

2. Call your next person and see if they are ready for you to come early

3. Make a rule at first apt to go over excused and unexcused cancellations- some therapists call on their way to ensure the patient is home.

4. Remind your patients of the new cancellation policy in the intake- they may be charged if they cancel with no notice or medical excuse.

If you are with a patient and have to call 911 or other extenuating circumstances you can send us a text through Hucu explaining and we can see if we can pay you possibly for your time spent with patients. This can not be for normal cancellations. We are not able to bill or pay for time outside of treatment.

Always document missed appointments in the EMR so we can see the multiple cancellations and why and when the patient is discharged due to non-compliance it is clear in the EMR.

We are here to support you and as an IC you are a business so having a clear cancellation policy of non-compliance and explaining to patients and caregivers your rules helps.

If you are the one cancelling?

If you are the therapist cancelling your appointments due to an emergency or illness, contact your patients immediately to let them know you are not coming for scheduled apt. Then cancel the apt in the EMR to document missed visits. Write a Note in EMR to explain the reason for cancellation. * without a note we would never remember the reason patient not seen that week

If you are going to be missing multiple sessions, please check with the patient if they want to be seen by another therapist or do they want to wait for you to come back. Document in the EMR the hold period and the reason why. Notify the Supervisor of your time not seeing the patient. Notify Marika which pts need to be covered while you are out.

Upon returning check with the therapist who was covering you to ensure a smooth transition back to you.