As non-Tricare Prime appointments become more limited, the standby program is a mechanism of increasing appointment availability for those that are eligible for care but not enrolled in Tricare. To further reduce the number of no shows, optometry personnel have begun calling patients the day before to remind them of the appointment. A system is in place to track the number of patients called, the amount of time needed to call the patients, and the impact on the process. In the last 10 months, the new procedures resulted in filling 27 percent of the no-show appointments with standbys, recapturing an average of 25 appointments per month that would otherwise be unavailable. Personnel are currently evaluating the impact of the telephone notification process on no-show rates and the resources used in this process.
Inspectors identify potential best practices during the inspection process.