Preparing for an Office Closure
Whether it's a last minute office closure due to inclement weather or a scheduled closure for the holidays, here's how your office can prepare to ensure the best experience for your patients:
Unexpected Office Closures
Create a text template that lets patients know you'll be closed. You can even create this ahead of time so you don't have to think about it last minute!
Don't pause Leap reminders. You'll still want to remind patients of their upcoming appointments.
If the unexpected office closure lasts more than a day, we recommend that a member of your team sends a mass text to update patients scheduled for each day your office is closed.
Send a mass text to everyone on today's schedule using the template you created.
Update your office's voicemail greeting to let them know about the unexpected closure.
Put a sign up on your office's entry door in case walk-ins come by the office. This way they understand the closure is only temporary.
Once your office reopens, contact patients you had to cancel to get them rescheduled.
Planned Office Closures
Since you know these ones are coming, you can do a little bit more to prepare:
Update your practice website. Put a banner on your office's homepage letting folks know about the planned closure. Or better yet, list all the days you plan to be closed on the same page as your regular your office hours so patients can plan accordingly.
Update your office's voicemail greeting so patients know you'll be closed.
Make sure each of your provider's availability is set in Open Dental using these instructions. This helps ensure no one books appointments on days you're planning to be closed.
Don't pause Leap reminders. You'll still want to remind patients of their upcoming appointments.
Train your team to remind patients about planned closures the week before you're closed. Each time someone on your team is on the phone with a patient or a patient is leaving the office, staff should remind the patient of the upcoming closure.