How to keep physiotherapy patients from dropping out half way through a course
By the Curogrid team · · 4 minute read
A physiotherapy clinic keeps patients to the end of a course with five habits: book every session on the first day, give the patient the same time and the same therapist, show them where they are in the course, follow up a missed session on the day it is missed, and agree the money before session one. None of these needs new equipment.
A course is planned for a reason, and a patient who stops at session three has paid for part of a result. The clinic also loses the booked slots. Much of what causes it is in the clinic's hands.
Why physiotherapy patients stop coming
The reasons patients give are ordinary ones, and each has a matching fix at the desk.
| Reason | What the clinic can do |
|---|---|
| The pain eased | Say at the assessment what the later sessions are for, and write it on the plan the patient takes home. |
| The next session was never booked | Book the whole course on the first day. |
| The time stopped suiting them | Offer one fixed slot for the course, and move the remaining sessions together when it has to change. |
| One session was missed and nobody called | Call or message the same day and rebook before the week is out. |
| The cost was not clear | Agree the fee and how it will be paid before the first session. |
Book the whole course on the first day
Book every session before the patient leaves the assessment. A patient who has six dates in hand has agreed to six sessions. A patient who is told “come again on Thursday” has agreed to one, and has to decide again each time. Give the dates on paper or by message, so the family can see them too.
Keep the same time and the same therapist
Give the course one time of day and, where your staffing allows, one therapist. A fixed slot becomes part of the patient's week, and a therapist who saw the last session does not need the history repeated. If the slot must change, move all the remaining sessions in one go so the patient has one new time to remember.
Show the patient where they are in the course
Tell the patient their place at every visit: “this is session three of six”. A patient who can see the end of the course has a reason to reach it. Use the same count in the patient's file, so that anyone at the desk can answer “how many are left?” without calling the therapist out of a session.
Follow up a missed session the same day
Give a missed session a fixed routine, so that it is followed up every time and by the same steps.
- Mark the session as missed when the slot has passed. Do not leave it sitting in the diary as if it were still to come.
- Call or message the patient the same day. Ask only when they can come next.
- Rebook the missed session, and move the later ones if the gap between sessions matters to the plan.
- Write one line in the file on why it was missed. A patient who has missed twice for the same reason needs a different slot.
- Once a week, list every patient with a missed session that was never rebooked, and call them.
Agree the money before the first session
Decide with the patient whether they pay for each session or for a package, and write down what was agreed. If you sell a package, state how many sessions it covers, how long it stays valid, and what happens to sessions that are not used. If the patient pays in parts, record each part on the day it is paid. A patient who is unsure what they owe may find it easier to stay away than to ask.
What to count each month
Count three things each month: courses started, courses finished, and missed sessions that were never rebooked. We have no sourced benchmark to offer for a normal completion rate, so compare your own months with each other. A rise in sessions that were never rebooked tells you the follow-up routine has slipped.
How Curogrid does it
In Curogrid, a physiotherapy clinic turns on “Book a course of therapy sessions” while booking. The course is booked in one step: 6 sessions, 2 days apart, 45 minutes each, at the same time of day, unless you change the number or the gap. Each booking shows its place, such as “Session 3 of 6”. The patient's file opens on a Sessions card that shows how many are done and when the next one is booked, and flags a missed session that was never rebooked. Reminders for booked sessions go out by WhatsApp and email.
A “10 session package” is one of the starter services, at ₹4,500, and you can change the price or add your own packages. The package is a bill and the course is a set of bookings: Curogrid does not deduct sessions from a paid package for you, so book the course to the same length as the package. It has no library of exercise videos. Curogrid costs ₹399 a month on Plus or ₹999 on Pro, for the whole clinic, with a 5-day free trial of Pro.