Time is everyone’s most valuable resource. If an office error costs money, that can be refunded, but if a mistake costs you time, it is completely nonrefundable. And we all have multiple demands on our time: work, family, friends, hobbies, and even time spent in our bed, enjoying that quality sleep which it is our pleasure to provide to patients. Time wasted is time stolen from one of these other places.
Therefore, we have instituted a new policy that we hope will protect our patients’ precious time.
Why Our Appointments Are Different
If you go to most doctors’ or dentists’ offices, you expect to wait. You may even come a little later knowing that it will cut down your wait time. Because we value our patients’ time, our appointments are different. We don’t double or triple book appointments like others may do – the time you are scheduled is held specifically for you and you only. Appointments in our office start on time 99% of the time, and never more than five minutes late. That way, patients can come to our office and count on getting their appointment started and stopped precisely at the scheduled times. In doing this, our patients can be confident their appointment will not take away time from anything else in their day.
Why Our Appointments Can’t Be Rushed
In the decades that we have been providing oral appliance therapy for sleep apnea, we have streamlined the process into very efficient appointments. We believe that the length of these appointments represents the appropriate amount of time necessary to provide the quality care we feel our patients deserve.
If someone is running late, we can’t fit the appointment into a shorter time and still provide quality care. The only way to provide quality care is to reschedule the appointment. Unfortunately, the cancelled appointment represents a missed opportunity to help someone else. We want to avoid this at all costs.
Our Appointment Policy
To protect our patients’ time, provide the highest level of quality care, and provide for the inevitable costs of missed appointments, we have instituted a $50 fee for late cancellation or no show for an appointment.
The $50 fee will be charged when a patient:
- Gives less than 24 business hours cancellation notice.
- Doesn’t show up for an appointment.
- Arrives more than five (5) minutes late by our scheduling computer, and starting an appointment at that time would threaten to impinge on time already promised to another patient.
We believe that this policy represents the fairest approach to dealing with missed appointments. If you have questions about the policy or want further clarification, please ask at the time of making your appointment.
