MEDICAL APPOINTMENT CANCELLATION / NO SHOW POLICY
Thank you for sharing your journey with the physician and staff at MAPS for Recovery.
When you schedule an appointment with our physician, Dr. Lytton sets aside that specific slot of time just for you. To avoid rushing through patient appointments and be able to focus on your needs we do NOT “double book” or “over book”. We value your time with our attention.
Most of our patients are courteous and show for their scheduled appointments, however we have a small handful of folks who frequently fail to show up for appointments at all thus denying other patients the ability to meet with our provider.
Another problem we experience with a small percentage of our patients are those who cancel / reschedule at the last minute. Starting the day prior to your scheduled appointment our staff begin the process of preparing for your arrival. When you reschedule at the last minute all the work done is wasted and slows down staff’s ability to address patient needs in other ways.
To address this issue, we have found it necessary to implement a no show / late cancellation policy. Starting January 1, 2024 – our staff will begin educating the specific population whose behavior is most likely to incur these extra fees. Beginning on February 1, 2024, staff will begin assessing these fees to patients who continue to fail to show up and/or cancel at the last minute.
We politely request you give our office a 24 hour notice in the event you need to cancel / reschedule.
We offer a multitude of ways to contact our staff if you need to cancel or reschedule:
You can use the patient portal “On Patient” 24/7, you can call our office 737-738-6277. Staff are in the office taking calls Monday through Thursday 8:30am – 5:00pm except for major holidays. If we do not answer you can leave a message. After hours, holidays and weekends we have an answering service that can take a message. Texting during office hours is acceptable however if texting after hours we ask that you do so through our website https://maps4recovery.com/textnow . All these are acceptable ways to cancel and request a reschedule, using these will be time stamped and prevent an assessment of fees if done 24 hours in advance.
The following fees will be assessed and charged to your card on file or expected prior to your next office visit.
Any established patient who fails to show up for their scheduled appointment without contacting our office will be considered a “No Show” and charged a $25.00 fee. This fee will automatically be charged to your card on file. If we are unable to charge your card at the time of the no show it will need to be paid prior to rescheduling.
Any established patient who reschedules or cancels with less than 24 hours’ notice is considered a “late cancellation” and the fee for “late cancellation” is $15.00. Fees for late cancellations will automatically be added to your MD visit.
Any new patient that fails to show up to their initial appointment will not be rescheduled.
New patients will need to reschedule 24 hours prior to the initial appointment - these appointments are longer than normal appointments and take a lot more preparation than established appointments. New Patients who cancel at the last minute will need to pay the entire initial visit $149.00 prior to being rescheduled for a second initial visit. Should the second initial visit be missed or canceled at the last minute we assess a $30.00 fee that will be deducted from money paid, if a refund is requested. If a third new patient visit is made and cancelled or the patient fails to show up we will assess $50.00 fee return any reminding balance.
We will NOT reschedule Initial New Patient visits more than three times.
Established patients who are automatic 28-day appointment cycles who are “no shows” twice in a row will automatically have all future appointments cancelled on top of the assessed fees. We will not hold open preferred time slots for established patients who no show two consecutive times.
Any patient who fails to show up for appointments and does not contact our office during a 90-day period may be terminated from our services (with or without notice) unless prior arrangements have been made.
MAPS for Recovery has automatic appointment reminders available by phone call, email and text for all patients unless the patient requests otherwise. While we do our best to make sure these reminders are set up the patient is responsible for the above fees even if you do not receive your reminder message.
Appointments cancelled or rescheduled by the physician, office or as a medical necessity will NOT be subject to this policy. If a patient must reschedule or cancel due to an error made by this office or because our providers are running late will also be exempt from this policy.
*** So, our policy does not negatively affect those patients who normally show up for their scheduled visits – IN the event of an ACTUAL emergency prior notice could not be given consideration will be given and a ONE-TIME exception may be granted. This waiving of the policy above will be done at discretion of the management based on past patterns of behavior***
We understand not everyone will be happy about this policy however there have been occasions where we were unable to serve new patients in crisis in a timely manner or address established patients who needed extra help between regular appointments because Dr Lytton had a full schedule only to have the one of our “repeat offenders” cancel at the last minute or fail to show up at all. Had we been notified 24 hours in advance that some of our people on the scheduled could not use their visit that day we could have helped another person needing help. Not being able to help other patients because a handful of Dr. Lytton’s patients won’t let us know they need to reschedule simply is not fair to those who desperately need our services nor is it fair to our staff / physician. We are all on this journey together and notifying us as soon as you know you will be unable to make your appointment will allow us to offer our services in a timelier manner.
By signing I am indicating that I have read and understand this No Show / Late Cancellation Policy. I have been given the chance to have all my questions answered and agree to its terms and conditions.