Encouraging Medicaid clients to show up for appointments
Does anyone have thoughts, other than discharging for excessive no-shows, for encouraging Medicaid clients to show up for appointments? My practice wants us to discharge after a certain number of no-shows, but then I am in the position of getting a new client and going through the (sometimes multi-week) process of scheduling, and then, sometimes they show up and sometimes they don't. I don't see how discharging folks who are generally good about showing up but miss a few times will help my overall attendance rate. And then, there's also people who call and cancel in advance, so they don't even count as no-shows. I'm really struggling to get sufficient clients.
To be clear, I discharge for excessive no-shows, but if I have someone I've seen for four or five months, and they've had two no-shows over that period, that doesn't seem like a situation where discharging the client would help the client, me, OR the practice.
I'm seriously considering seeking out an after-school program with high Medicaid participation rates where I can set up shop a few afternoons a week. In this imaginary scenario, I'd see whichever 3 kids are in attendance that day of the 7 or 8 whose parents sign them up to see a therapist. "The Doctor is In, 5 cents."