Reappointment rate

Reappointment rate measures how many hygiene patients leave the office with their next cleaning already on the schedule, rather than being told to "call to schedule" on their way out. Ryan's benchmark is 90% or higher, and the gap between that number and a typical 60–70% practice is one of the more expensive, least visible leaks in a general practice, because every patient who leaves without a booked appointment is a patient who has to be actively found and rescheduled later, at real cost, or who simply falls out of the recall system.

The fix is almost entirely about habit and script, not software. The front desk or hygienist offering two specific times before the patient stands up, rather than a vague instruction to call, is most of the difference between a 65% and a 90% practice. It is also tightly linked to patient attrition and patient reactivation: a low reappointment rate is the upstream cause that eventually shows up downstream as an inactive-patient list that needs an expensive reactivation campaign to fix.

Track it weekly by hygienist, not just for the practice overall, since it is a habit that varies enormously by individual and is easy to coach once it is visible.