Red Lake Hospital No Show Guidelines

The guidelines define a No Show as “any patient who has not shown up for an appointment and has not contacted the clinic 1 hour prior to scheduled appointment.”

Recently a newly revised “No Show Guidelines” was signed by the Red Lake Hospital administration that helps insure that Red Lake Clinic patients receive the timeliest care possible. These guidelines also provide a way for helping patients who are more than 10 minutes late to an appointment; receive the care that they want and need at a later date. These guidelines also insure that patients who arrive for their scheduled appointment in a timely manner will receive their healthcare in a timely manner.

Each department throughout the Red Lake Hospital that schedules appointments has a procedure that will assist No Show patients with obtaining another appointment when one has been missed. This may include re-scheduling the patient on another day, or even working them back into a later appointment the same day if the schedule permits. Every effort will be made to accommodate each patient on a case by case basis. It has been the scheduling practice of the Red Lake Clinic and other departments that patients arrive for their appointments 15 minutes prior to the scheduled appointment. Arriving 15 minutes early before the appointment allows the registration staff time to update personal patient information. It also allows the staff if needed, to do the pre-visit screening which includes reviewing medications, immunizations, health screening recommendations etc.

Patients are given an appointment time which is specific to them. This helps the Red Lake Clinic and other department staff respect each patient’s time so there will be minimal interference and delays that can “back up” the daily schedule.

One other note to keep in mind is when patients at the Red Lake Clinic review Health Summaries with their Health provider(s) during their visit, patients can take the Summaries home which have personal health information such as address, medication list, immunizations etc. You may choose to take this Health Summary home (please make sure you don’t leave them unattended in the clinic) or request to have them shredded. The Health Summaries contain confidential information.