How Penciled's WebPT integration filled 144 cancellations per month.
Renew Physical Therapy increased cancellations filled after introducing Penciled's AI to book appointments directly into the WebPT schedule without human supervision.
Overview
Penciled filled hundreds of cancellations for Renew Physical Therapy each month, saving front offices 2-3 hours per day by automating manual text messages.
High-impact features
- Parallel texting for patients on the waitlist
- Filtering the waitlist to find patients eligible for openings
- Automatic detection of cancellations and booking appointments directly in WebPT
About the team
Renew Physical Therapy is a 45-provider group offering premier physical therapy services in 5 locations across the Bay Area. Renew is lead by Steve Mongiello, a McKenzie-certified physical therapist who founded the company in 2008.
Core problem
When we first met the Renew team, their top priority was: can you help us manage our waitlist?
At the time, demand for Renew's services was extremely high, and the front office was spending hours each day keeping track of patients waiting for appointments.
Force-fitting Weave to manage waitlists
The group was using Weave for manual messaging, and in order to store availability time ranges for waitlist patients, the front office was manually writing these in the notes section for each patient.
The notes also contained initials for which PTs they wanted to see, and which appointment types and durations.
Example notes section for Weave patient: NS, MWF, 10AM-2PM, EVAL, 90 MINS
Manual workflow to fill cancellations
When a patient called in to cancel an appointment, the front office would kick into high gear to try to get it filled. The process was:
- Scroll through Weave and find out which patients could potentially take the slot.
- Message the patients individually to offer the appointment.
- When a patient replied "yes," schedule the appointment into WebPT.
- Text other patients that the offered slot had been taken.
Limitations of manual processes
The manual method of filling cancellations had a number of limitations:
- If the front office was busy, they wouldn't always have time to perform these steps reliably, leaving slots unfilled.
- There was significant room for error and if the wrong times were accidentally booked into WebPT, therapists would get very frustrated.
- In some cases, therapists would log into Weave themselves to message patients to fill cancellations, especially if the front office was overwhelmed.
- Front office turnover was high, and retraining new staff was incredibly time-consuming.
Why they chose Penciled
When Steve (the owner) learned about Penciled, it was a clear bet to make. He had identified that the waitlist was a problem, and front office turnover was top-of-mind.
"It's a cost, but I think it's something that's worthwhile and investing in because managing the waitlist is one of the biggest burdens for my front office right now. It's one of the hardest things that they have to manage. It's taken the most time. I'm all in on it.”
Product
Penciled is the only WebPT-integrated automated scheduling system. Its waitlist is uniquely catered to physical therapy offices, allowing patients to accept cancellations for evals and follow-ups. In order to trigger Penciled's waitlist, the only requirement of the front office is to cancel the appointment in WebPT as they normally would.
Penciled dashboard for front office monitoring
Penciled features a dashboard which allows front offices to keep track of ongoing waitlist offerings immediately after appointments are cancelled.
Penciled allows the front office to inspect previous cancellations and look into which patients were contacted and which patient accepted the apopintment.
By clicking into the patient, the front office can quickly read the text message thread and even send messages manually to override the AI if needed.
Patient text message conversation with Penciled
By using generative AI-powered SMS, patients can easily reply to the AI assistant and schedule appointments without any portals, logins, or other steps.
Rollout
Penciled was initially introduced to Renew PT's San Francisco office, and then it was quickly deployed to all five locations throughout the Bay Area.
WebPT integration
Renew Physical Therapy signed onto Penciled before the WebPT integration was available. Before the WebPT integration was released, front office had to manually create patients in Penciled and manually book the visit in WebPT after Penciled automatically confirmed it with the patient. After the WebPT integration was released, Penciled automatically detected new cancellations, texted waitlist patients, and scheduled appointments directly into WebPT without human supervision.
Results
In total, Penciled booked 1,373 appointments in the first 38 weeks of utilization. All of these appointments were last-minute cancellations which were filled by contacting waitlist patients automatically.
Cancellations filled by Penciled without WebPT integration
Penciled initially launched without a WebPT integration, but Renew's front offices still deployed the platform immediately. The graph below represents the cancellations that Penciled filled during the period before the WebPT integration was released. October 27-November 2, or week 16, marks the first week that Penciled introduced the WebPT-integrated platform, so volumes naturally dropped on the standalone platform as clinic locations transitioned individually to the new platform.
Cancellations filled by Penciled with WebPT integration
Once Penciled released its WebPT integration on October 27, Renew locations individually began transitioning to the new platform. This further reduced workload on the front office, since the only requirement to initiate the process of filling a cancellation was to simply cancel the appointment in WebPT.
Cancellations filled by Penciled overall
During the 38 weeks of tracked utilization, Penciled filled 1,373 cancellations and completely replaced the old manual system of messaging waitlist patients on Weave. Renew Physical Therapy reported saving 2-3 hours per day per front office, and there was a reduction in front office headcount following implementation of Penciled's waitlist system.
Impact of the WebPT integration
Renew's front office used Penciled before its WebPT integration and after the integration was fully automated. The chart below proves that there was a 5.7% increase in cancellations filled following the WebPT integration.
The chart below excludes the 7 weeks during which the Renew team was transitioning onto the fully-automated version of Penciled.
Surprisingly, appointments booked did not dramatically increase following the WebPT integration. However, time saved across the front offices was incredibly reduced.
Here's what front office staffers had to say about the integration:
“What took hours to fill our appointments each week, now takes seconds.”
"It would automatically fill the appointment on the schedule.”
The impact of the time saved by the integration was also felt at the management level.
“Penciled has been a game-changer with how we do our waitlist and the seamless integration with WebPT is phenomenal.”
“I like that it integrated into our schedule, you could clearly see when it was running and when it was filled."
“Streamlining the waitlist was what Pencil promised and that’s what it delivered! We were able to fill our schedule 95%of the time from Pencil, it helped our patients get notified immediately and it allowed our front office to focus on other tasks while the bot worked on filling our patient schedule. One of the better products out there and the development team was so open to feedback!”
Penciled reduced headaches
After introducing Penciled, clinic directors and management at Renew felt a noticeable decrease in stress related to unfilled cancellations appearing last-minute on their schedules. Clinic directors reported that staff were more free to spend more time with patients, and that the reduction in workload improved the clinic's operations.
“For us it's been great because we moved from 3 to 2 front office staff which is super cost effective, and it allows our front office to be more present with patients in the clinic providing a better overall experience.”
From Steve Mongiello, Owner of Renew PT
When asked about whether he'd recommend Penciled to other clinics, here's what the owner had to say:
"Penciled saved our front offices hundreds of hours every month dealing with the waitlist, and we saw over 35X ROI on cancellations re-booked by Penciled. Results were immediate once they launched the WebPT integration. If you are on WebPT, this is a no-brainer."
Discussion
For physical therapy groups with high front office headcount and significant patient demand for appointments, Penciled's AI waitlist platform can dramatically reduce front office workload and recapture previously lost revenue.
AI task automation allows medium-sized physical therapy enterprises to reduce the risks associated with high front office turnover and ensure consistent and reliable process execution.
Using Penciled can also impact stress levels of management and front office, freeing up key personnel up to focus on more important tasks and improving overall workplace experience.
