Percentage of New Patient Exams vs Existing Patients

The aggregated number of new patients as a percentage of total exams for those enrolled in EDGEPro by GPN.

This month’s numbers focus is the percentage of new patient exams vs existing patients who have been to the practice in the past returning for an annual exam.

In an established practice (more than 10 years) new patients should account for no more than 30% of your exams. Returning patients should account for 70% or more of your total exams. If your practice is ten years of age or older and your new patient percentage is over 30%, you have a retention problem.

The good news is that existing patients who don’t return are not likely to have switched doctors. There are a couple of questions you should answer.

1. Are you consistently sending out recall communication? If not, it is a good idea to start.
2. Do you call each patient who does not respond to a digital recall notification? If not, you’re missing the “magic.”

Patients who receive a phone call are 85% more likely to respond and schedule an exam than patients who are are only sent an email or text message (or recall postcards if you haven’t heard about the internet).

The easiest way to increase your exam count and thereby increase your retention and recall of existing patients is to start calling patients to remind them of their annual eye exam.