What time is best for appointment confirmation?

We used to confirm the day before, but DUH! We used to say "Please give us 24-hour notice if you must cancel,” how can patients do that if they are only reminded the day before, so now we confirm two days prior, both for hygiene and for doctor.
richf, Official Townie

We do both. We "confirm" a week in advance to give us time to fill the openings if the patient needs to change their appointment, then we make a "courtesy call" the day before the appointment as a last minute reminder. Works pretty well, but there are always those few....
Boris, Official Townie

About 3 months ago we switched from confirming the day before to 2 days prior to patient's appointments, for both hygiene and doctor. We don't see patients on Friday, so that means Monday appointments are confirmed on Wednesday and Tuesday's on Thursday. It seems to be working better and allows our appointment secretary an extra day to "fix" the schedule if someone cancels.
dj-h, Official Townie

I've been at the front office for 11 years now and have never seen the advantage of calling the day before to confirm patients. I've even called an hour before an appointment, and they still didn't show. I don't think we need to be babysitters for adults. Janecda1, Official Townie Before I started working at my office, they tried to stop confirming. (These patients were used to confirmation calls for over 30 years!) The production fell and that idea was nixed. (It was the suggestion of a consultant that they had heard speak.)

We now confirm 2 days ahead–telling them we are looking forward to seeing them for their dental visit on Friday, August 24th at 3 p.m. If they are not at home, I leave a message on their answering machine asking them to give us a call. We also send our reminder post cards to our re-care patients. So far so good!
happysmile67, Official Townie

We send a messenger out to each patient who knocks on the door and personally reminds them of their appointment.
mauty, Official Townie