Gondley Consulting
Practical writing on the admin that eats a small practice's day: no-shows, reminders, records requests and intake.
A recall list is every patient who is due for a follow-up or a screening and has nothing booked. Build it each week from the scheduler, reach each patient three times over about three weeks, and keep the reason out of the text.
Tell patients about holiday closures three times: about three weeks ahead on your website, Google and phone greeting, the week before to anyone with a visit or refill near the closure, and on the last working day. Name who covers while you are closed and give the 988 line.
A superbill is the receipt an out-of-network client sends to their plan. It needs the provider's NPI and tax ID, each session's date, service code, diagnosis code and place of service (11 office, 10 telehealth at home, 02 telehealth elsewhere), and what was paid. One email a month does it.
Two short messages before Thanksgiving and one before the December holidays cover the FDA's main warnings: no fatty scraps or bones, chocolate and xylitol are emergencies, tinsel and ribbons go out of reach. Add your holiday hours and the 24-hour poison control number.
Since 1 January 2026, Medicare Advantage plans, Medicaid and CHIP must decide standard prior authorization requests within 7 calendar days and urgent ones within 72 hours, and give a specific reason for any denial. A practice that dates every request knows exactly when to chase.
HIPAA does not forbid emailing patients, even without encryption, as long as the practice takes reasonable care: check the address, limit what each email says, and let patients choose another way. HHS adds that a patient who emails first can be answered by email.
A client who has no insurance, or chooses not to use it, gets a written good faith estimate: within 1 business day of booking a session 3 or more business days ahead, or within 3 business days of asking. One estimate can cover up to 12 months of weekly sessions.
Medicare pays for one annual wellness visit every 12 months, and not in a patient's first 12 months of Part B. A reminder at 11 months that books the visit just past the 12-month mark, and that says it is not a physical, keeps both the patient and the claim right.
A waitlist fills a cancelled hour only if the next patient hears within minutes and can say yes in one word. Offer it to one patient at a time, get their yes to texts when they join, and keep each text short.
HIPAA allows appointment reminders by text and voicemail if you keep them short. The FCC's rule for healthcare texts sets 160 characters, one a day and three a week, your name and a STOP. Templates that fit.
Google lets a practice ask every patient for an honest review. The fines have come from the replies. What to send, what to say at the desk, and how to answer a review without confirming anyone is your patient.
What to check about a patient's insurance before the visit, the electronic check behind it, the Medicare card mix-up, and messages that tell patients what they will owe before they arrive.
What to collect from a new patient before the first visit, what the rules require at intake, a checklist to copy, and messages that get forms done before the patient arrives.
What HIPAA allows, what the request letter should say, a template to copy, and how to stop chasing records before the patient's visit.
What the APA and ACA ethics codes ask, what a therapy practice's cancellation policy should say, and the messages that keep it running.
Templates to copy for confirmations, day-before texts, vaccine-due reminders, surgery instructions and rebooking, and when to send each one.
What a no-show policy should say, what Medicare requires if you charge for missed visits, and which parts can run by themselves.
What the rule asks of you, where the time really goes, and which parts to automate so nothing misses the 30-day clock.
Not everything is worth automating. A simple test, the four jobs that usually pass it, and how to find yours this week.
