What is your policy regarding missed appointments?

A "No Show" is considered to be failure to attend a scheduled appointment without calling to cancel the appointment at least 24 hours in advance, unless due to serious emergency. Because the patients of Auburn Neurosurgery must sometimes wait for an available appointment, this failure to attend an appointment has significant impact on other patients, as well as to the physicians of Auburn Neurosurgery. Therefore, Auburn Neursurgery found it necessary to implement a No Show Policy on April 1, 2009.

We previously instituted a policy of notifying the PCP or referring doctor if a patient fails to show for a scheduled appointment. Beginning April 1, 2009, if a patient calls to schedule another appointment after a "No Show," he/she will be informed of our No Show Policy and that he/she will have to sign an acknowledgement of this policy at his/her next visit. The patient will also be informed that there will be a charge of $50 each for the second and third No Show visits. Further, it will be explained that if there are a total of three (3) No Show visits, the patient will receive a letter dismissing him/her from the practice. A similar letter will be sent to the primary physician or referring physician.