One of the more morale draining scenarios is paying the appointment coordinator to fill Tuesday's schedule on Monday - then have them work on filling TUESDAY'S schedule on TUESDAY because it's littered with "holes."

Besides hurting morale, it hurts the "flow" of the office. When "holes" exist, everyone at the front desk diverts energy from their normal position to assist in scheduling. Less insurance gets submitted. Less attention is paid to that day's office operation. Productivity clearly drops off.

The best way to prevent this is to reschedule broken appointments that day. In the scope of a busy front desk, this job can often get overlooked, phones ringing, a few patients stacked up to check out - then a cancellation. It's understandable. This protocol reminds us that the easiest way to minimize the damage of a cancellation is to immediately reschedule it.