NextPatient customer spotlight: Northwest Psychiatry

• Providers: 3
• Locations: 1
• EHR: athenahealth
• NextPatient solutions: Patient Self-Scheduling, Referral Management, Card-On-File

Northwest Psychiatry serves both patients referred by other healthcare providers and individuals who find the practice through organic search; however, time-consuming and ineffective phone tag hindered new patient acquisition. With NextPatient's self-scheduling and referral management system, seamlessly integrated with athenahealth, the practice enabled 24/7 patient self-scheduling and automated referral management, while minimizing no-shows by capturing cards-on-file to confirm appointments.

Results

• 78% of online appointments are new patients vs. 51% average for NextPatient clients
• 49% of referrals convert to booked patients through the automated follow-up system
• 3% no-show rate vs. industry average of 13-17% for behavioral health 
• 29% of appointments booked online are made after hours

The challenge: Phone tag paralysis

Before implementing NextPatient, Northwest Psychiatry faced the common patient acquisition and scheduling challenges of modern psychiatric practices. Research shows that no-show rates in outpatient clinics average between 13-17%, creating significant revenue loss and operational inefficiency.

Specific pain points:

• Limited scheduling accessibility: With only phone-based scheduling available during business hours, the practice missed opportunities to capture patients who preferred to schedule appointments at their convenience. Across NextPatient clients, an average of 46% of appointments are booked outside of office hours, highlighting the competitive disadvantage of phone-only scheduling.
• New patient acquisition bottleneck: Staff spent excessive time playing phone tag with prospective patients. Referrals would come in and go to voicemail when staff was busy. And when staff called back, patients often didn't answer, creating a frustrating phone tag cycle that resulted in lost opportunities and delayed care.
• No-show revenue loss: Patients would schedule appointments impulsively during moments of crisis, then fail to show up without canceling. Research from the University of Missouri outpatient psychiatry clinic found that no-shows represented between $11-19 million in lost revenue, illustrating the potential financial impact.
• Staff overwhelm: Administrative staff were overwhelmed with scheduling calls, follow-up attempts, and appointment confirmations, leaving less time for higher value patient care activities.
  
  

The primary driver for me to look for something along the lines of NextPatient was twofold. The first one was to make it straightforward and simple for patients to schedule their appointments in their free time. The second reason was pertaining more to new patients. We would get either referrals for, or calls from, new patients, but they would go to voicemail because staff were too busy.

— Dr. Arvinder Walia, Founder, Northwest Psychiatry

 

The solution: Streamlined digital patient access

NextPatient's comprehensive platform addressed each of Northwest Psychiatry's challenges with three key solutions:

1. Patient self-scheduling: Patients can book appointments 24/7 through an intuitive online interface that integrates directly with the practice's athenahealth EHR, seamlessly managing both new patient appointments and follow-up visits and alleviating the burden on front office staff.
   
2. Automated referral management: NextPatient’s referral management system eliminates phone tag by automatically sending scheduling links to referred patients via text message. If patients don't book within a specified timeframe, they receive automated follow-up reminders at a frequency and duration determined by the practice, and a staff dashboard allows for easy tracking.
3. Card-on-file protection: To address the impulsive booking and subsequent no-show pattern common in psychiatric care, NextPatient captures credit card information at the time of booking, creating accountability for patients and an enforceable payment policy that protects the practice from lost time and revenue.
   
   

If a patient's referral came in three weeks ago, they keep getting reminders with a link to schedule. So many times, they'll schedule it three weeks later or four weeks later. Having that reminder in their text messages helps keep us top of mind in patients’ busy lives.

— Dr. Arvinder Walia, Founder, Northwest Psychiatry

Real results: Industry-leading performance

By the numbers:

• 78% of appointments booked online are new patients, outperforming the 51% average across practices using NextPatient. By giving patients the ability to schedule 24/7, Northwest Psychiatry effectively captures first-time patients who might otherwise be lost in phone tag.
• 49% of referrals convert to booked patients with NextPatient’s automated referral management system, a dramatic improvement from the previous phone-based process where referrals often ended with missed connections.
• 3% no-show rate for appointments booked online stands out in a specialty that typically experiences average no-show rates as high as 17%, and directly protects revenue and provider time.
• 29% of online bookings occur after hours, capturing appointments that would have been impossible with phone-only scheduling. 
  
  

Operational efficiency gains:

• Streamlined scheduling process for patients, referring providers, and staff
• Fewer scheduling-related phone calls for staff to manage
• Decreased staff time spent coordinating appointments

Ready to transform your practice's patient acquisition?

Northwest Psychiatry's success showcases how the right scheduling technology can eliminate administrative burdens while supporting new patient conversion. Read the full case study →

Schedule a demo today to see how NextPatient can help your practice achieve similar results in patient acquisition, referral management, no-show reduction, and operational efficiency. Book your demo →