Mastering your scheduling

Private practices servicing schools - have you mastered your scheduling? Are you aware of your unrealized visit rate?

Many private practices have unrealized visit rates soaring over 50 or 60%.

Optimizing this area leads to triple wins:

• Clients receive their fully mandated IEP treatment frequency
• Therapists are better equipped to manage their schedules, enhancing progress
• Practices meet compulsory requirements without fail

Strategies to enhance realized visit rates include:

• Balance caseloads efficiently
• Understand availabilities (therapist, client, location)
• Anticipate absences/cancellations through front-loading
• Prioritize make-ups based on pacing

Investing in the right technology simplifies these strategies, a must as your practice grows!

Understanding Frequency Adaptation

An intriguing observation from our recent data is how practices and therapists adapt to different visit frequencies.

A client with 4 or 8 visits per month should theoretically follow the same initial curve as a client with 12 visits. But why doesn't it?

It seems that we ease up on the scheduling intensity for lower frequencies. For an 8x per month client, we might optimistically schedule thinking the month will go perfectly. However, cancellations and absences are inevitable.

The Insight

Treat every client's scheduling with meticulous planning. Front-load and prepare for at least one absence or cancellation per child monthly.

Don’t plan for the happy path. Adopt a robust scheduling strategy that acknowledges the complexities of each client's needs and anticipates absences/cancellations. Recognize the subtleties of various frequencies to sidestep usual traps.