Front desk and scheduling
Late cancellation
Also called short-notice cancellation
A cancellation made too close to the appointment for the office to fill the time.
A late cancellation is when a patient cancels within the notice window set by the office policy, often 24 or 48 hours. Because the slot may be hard to fill, offices may record it as a broken appointment and charge a fee. Policies should be written, shared with new patients, and applied fairly. Ask the reason, offer a new time, and use the short-call list to try to fill the gap.
Example at the front desk
She cancelled this morning for a 2 o'clock visit, so I moved a short-call patient into that slot.