Increasing the Patient Return Rate

Increasing the Patient Return Rate

A study was conducted to determine whether an after visit summary (AVS) provided to patients at the conclusion of their first acupuncture treatments affects the number of times patients return for follow-up treatments, a retrospective cohort study was performed. Two random samples of 100 new patient records (N=200) at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine's (OCOM) outpatient clinics in Portland, OR, were reviewed over a 3-month period before and after the implementation of using the AVS. Patients who had been seen previously at any of the college clinics were excluded. The number of return visits recorded in the MediSoft™ database was hand counted for each patient. The use of an AVS did not significantly change the mean number of return visits for acupuncture (2-sided p-value=0.91), but there was a trend toward more frequent returns by patients who received AVS, compared to those who did not (2-sided p-value=0.0827, relative risk [RR]: 1.51, confidence interval [CI] 0.95-2.41). These data support the concept that the AVS has a positive influence on patient return rates. In this study, patients who received an AVS were 51% more likely to return for 5 visits than patients who did not receive an AVS.

Source: Dehen RI, Carter SU, Watanabe M. Impact of After Visit Summaries on Patient Return Rates at an Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Clinic. Med Acupunct. 2014 Aug 1;26(4):221-225.