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Maybe the doctor is running late because previous patients wandered in after the appointment time?
Or the classic for pediatrician. Mommy makes an appt for Betsy who has some chest congestion and then shows up with Betsy's little brother Joey. Doc examines Betsy and finishes with her. Then Mom says to doc, poor Joey is complaining of an earache. Could you just look at him before we go?
Your point is? Doctors want to charge people or punish them if they are late, miss an appoint or in this case dont confirm. Seems reasonable we should be able to punish them when they arent on time either.
My wife had this happen by our dentist recently. They made many attempts to confirm - one email, texted 2-3 times, and left 2-3 voicemails. No fee charged, she showed up on time but was told her appointment was cancelled due to not confirming in advance.
My wife is not tech savvy, cannot bring her phone into her workplace (security will not allow), and she is terrible at checking it after hours after working.
Most doctors will send emails and maybe texts, and may even call to confirm appointments. And of course it is not uncommon to be charged a fee if you do not show up for an appointment. But I usually do not confirm, and I have never heard of this policy of cancelling before if not confirmed. And between me, my wife and her mother, we go to a lot of doctors.
I have always had the doctor honor the appointment time, period. You make the appt, then you show up at that appt time and there is never a problem, whether you confirm or not. It always seemed that confirming in advance was only to fill out paperwork, which can be done upon arrival if necessary.
We switched to this dentist about 1.5 yrs ago, but I don't remember being informed about this policy. I'm sure that there have been other times in the last year and a half that we did not confirm, but this is the first time they have enforced it.
Is this a common practice? Or maybe the "new normal"?
The message my doctor left said "call to confirm" and when I called they said why are you calling. Only call us if you aren't coming. They are busy enough as it is.
It is stupid. I have never failed to show up for an appointment and I can't always call back during business hours. They don't have a provision to confirm without talking to a person.
Well, it is easy to point to the failure to respond because it wasn't you. I knew I would get that. It's an internet message board, after all...
But we were surprised and unaware that it would ever result in cancellation. None of the messages stated they would cancel if no response. For example, the email just says, "A Friendly Reminder. Please confirm."
By the way, this appointment was for installing a crown. She had already paid for it, had the all of the drilling done, temporary one installed (which fell out and she had to go back to be cemented correctly), and was awaiting for the permanent one to arrive. This appt was to install the permanent crown, so the appt was no charge.
I was interested in hearing from any others who are aware of this policy at any of their providers, more than I was about whether the policy is appropriate (which everyone has done). Is this policy becoming more prevalent? I have never heard of it until now. We always just showed up for our appointments, and always cancelled or rescheduled well in advance if needed.
I don't think it very common, but I think it will be. Get ready.
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Most of my providers send confirmation/reminders in multiple ways these days. I always confirm. If I happen to get a duplicate request after confirming, it takes mere seconds to repeat. Certainly better than losing out on the time with the provider I waited who knows how long to get. I know they have constantly shifting schedules to balance and they may have more than one staffer managing that schedule, so consider it common courtesy. Seem to recall reading something about unconfirmed appointments at risk of cancellation for one or more of them, but it's moot. I confirm when asked to. Medical providers here are in demand and busy. My dentist in particular. They have no trouble filling in behind me. I don't want to be put on an on-call list or wait another 6 weeks for another appointment because I couldn't spare a few seconds.
Last edited by Parnassia; 08-22-2023 at 02:36 PM..
You made an appointment. That's a mutual agreement.
They can send a courtesy reminder, if they want, but why do they have to beg for a confirmation when you have agreed to the appointment time and date already?
Because some people will not show up, wasting a spot that someone else could have used.
Most of my medical and dental appointments follow the Confirm or you're cancelled protocol.
I always respond.
It's very rude to the medical staff and other patients if you don't.
No sympathy here.
We should all start sending confirmation requests to our dentists. Dr. Moosetooth, do you and Tiffy the hygienist still plan to be at our appointment on July 21 at exactly 1 pm?
We should all start sending confirmation requests to our dentists. Dr. Moosetooth, do you and Tiffy the hygienist still plan to be at our appointment on July 21 at exactly 1 pm?
I get that sometimes from my clients, calling or emailing to make sure an appointment time is still a go. I actually appreciate it, it means they're paying attention and on the ball, as opposed to the flakes who are busy or gone when I show up.
Different issue. Start a new thread about it if you are looking for others to agree with you.
I agree, it is a different issue.
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