Riverwood Family Practice is a two-physician family practice in Etobicoke, Ontario focused on making booking communication more consistent and manageable for staff and patients.
Type
Family Practice
EMR
OSCAR Pro
Using Ocean Since
October 2024
The Challenge
Fewer no-shows, clearer policies, quieter phones
Riverwood Family Practice in Etobicoke wanted to solve three practical front-line problems at once: reduce no-shows, communicate clinic policies more consistently, and reduce the load on front staff managing appointment bookings.
As a small family practice, the administrative cost of missed appointments and repeated phone-based confirmation work adds up quickly. Appointment communication, including confirmations, instructions, and policy reminders, was taking time away from more patient-facing work.
“We needed to decrease no-show numbers, better communicate clinic policies to new and existing patients, and take the pressure off our front staff regarding booking appointments.”
Dr. Sinan Qasha
Physician
Riverwood Family Practice
Workflow requirements
Reduce manual outreach so staff spend less time on confirmation calls and repeat explanations.
Standardize communication so patients receive consistent instructions, reminders, and policy information.
Support booking demand by shifting routine steps into a self-serve workflow.
The goal was not to add more messages. It was to make the right messages happen reliably without staff needing to trigger every step manually.
The Solution
Turning appointment communication into a repeatable workflow
Riverwood centered its approach on two Ocean tools: Online Booking and Patient Reminders. Together, they turned appointment communication into a predictable sequence that supports patients before booking, right after booking, and as the visit approaches.
From manual confirmation calls to automated reminders
Before
Staff were overwhelmed manually calling to confirm appointments and explaining clinic policies repeatedly.
After
The system now sends automated pre-booking instructions, post-booking confirmations, and follow-up reminders, handling the communication flow automatically.
Adoption
Riverwood's adoption story is clear: replace high-effort, repeatable phone work with an automated sequence that patients receive consistently. With Online Booking and Patient Reminders in place, staff no longer need to manually initiate the same confirmations and policy explanations for every appointment.
Book
Patients move through a more self-serve scheduling process.
Confirm
Details and policies are reinforced right after scheduling.
Remind
Automated reminders help patients stay on track as the visit approaches.
For a small front desk team, this change was not just about convenience. It helped protect time and attention for the issues that truly require a human touch.
The Impact
Operational relief and more reliable attendance
Patient-facing impact
Riverwood noted that patients appreciate the consistent reminders, especially when those reminders arrive at the right time without staff needing to intervene.
Staff and clinic impact
Staff feedback reflects the same operational shift. Team members report feeling much less pressure now that the phones are quieter and routine appointment communication is no longer piling up as manual work.
“We have seen a significant reduction in no-shows and a drastic decrease in phone traffic for bookings. Staff report feeling much less pressure now that the phones are quieter, and patients appreciate the consistent reminders.”
Dr. Sinan Qasha
Physician
Riverwood Family Practice
“It is the most effective way to automate patient communication and relieve administrative burden on your team.”
