Is Patient Reactivation a Good Use of Practice AI?

Yes. I think patient reactivation is one of the best places for a practice to start with AI. A pain management clinic is all about getting patients to come back to the office. Med spas and wellness practices are about getting the existing customer base to come back in and pay again. Those patients already know you, so you are not starting from zero.

Why does reactivation suit AI so well?

Because it is repetitive, it runs on data the practice already has, and people are not consistent at it. Humans cannot be that consistent all the time, and they cannot be that fast all the time. A front desk that is busy with today's patients will not call last year's patients every week.

An automated workflow can. It can look at the patient record, send the outreach, try a text first, call if the text does not work, and book the appointment when the patient says yes. It can run by text, voice and email. I already have a patient reactivation process built, and when I talk with people who run AI phone systems for practices, outbound campaigns to recapture old patients come up as one of the big needs.

Which practices benefit most?

Any practice where patients are supposed to come back. People ask me whether a practice needs to be part of an ACO for this. I don't think so. Pain management has patient reactivation. Weight-loss practices have patient reactivation. There are plenty of practices out there fighting to get their patients back in the door.

These practices are businesses, not just doctor's offices. In my experience the owners are not looking for a minimum solution. They are looking for something with high impact, and reactivation is easy to measure: patients booked who would not have come back otherwise.

What about patients who come back on a schedule?

This is the easiest win. Some patients need to return on fairly regular cycles, for example because of an ongoing condition. The system can take care of that next visit automatically. That is a revenue generator by itself.

It works better when you ask the right questions at the first booking. Would the patient be willing to come in early if a slot opened up? If not, which days of the week and which times of day are better for them? With those answers on file, the scheduling system has what it needs, and filling cancellations and booking return visits runs much more smoothly.

Can a device company help its customers do this?

Yes, and I think it is an underused idea. A device maker that sells to practices can help those practices fill their patient pipeline. The approach uses a CRM connected to the practice's patient information system to bring the right patients in for the therapy, and the practice bills for the care. Done well, it helps the practice and it can help move a customer from one unit to a second unit.

Before a device company does this, it needs to check with its lawyers whether this is an allowable thing in its situation. That is the first question I would ask.

Where to start

Pull a list of patients who have not been back in a set period, following your privacy rules. Group them by the reason for their last visit. Start with one group, set up a text first and a call second, and count the visits booked. At the same time, add the two scheduling questions to your intake, so new patients are easier to bring back later. Expect to learn a lot once it is live. You will start with one idea of what works, and then the practice will show you another opportunity, and another.