How a four-person clinic cut no-shows from 11 to 3 percent

Alder Street had a no-show rate of 11.4 percent in the spring. At $140 a visit, that was about $3,900 a month of empty hours.

They changed three things. The 24 hour reminder moved from email to text. The text asked for a reply to confirm. And the two hour reminder started including the parking details and the door code.

By August the no-show rate was 3.1 percent. The front desk says the reply to confirm made the biggest difference, because a client who has typed C has made a small promise.