MyEyeDr. – Catching Patients Before They Disappear.

While digging around in SQL, just poking at different tables, and last exam date trends. I remembered a rule in HIPAA regulations: After 36 months, we can’t message patients anymore.

The Problem: 

Pulling the numbers, I found that we were losing upwards of 25,000 patients every month to that one rule.

For some practices, it was a hefty chunk of their entire patient base, just gone, quietly, every 30 days.

I asked if anything had been done about it. There had been an attempt years prior, but it didn’t perform and was written off as not worth the effort.

After looking at the creative, it made sense. It wasn’t that the idea was wrong but the execution just didn’t give anyone a reason to care.

I knew a majority of patients push their eye exams to 15 months but a substantial amount are pushing to around two years, often tied to insurance cycles. After that, engagement drops off fast, and by 36 months, they’re effectively lost.

This means:

Patients don't leave, they slowly drift until they're gone. Like that bad relationship you know is over.

BUT this means we have a clear window to reach out to them. I built a multi-touch reactivation plan starting at the 26-month mark, before patients start to fall off.

The messaging would work more like a ramp, not a reminder.

• Starting simple, a gentle nudge about staying on top of your eye health.
• Then it escalated by introducing real conditions that often go unnoticed without regular exams.
• Finally, it became more urgent, highlighting risks like macular degeneration

Each stage paried with increasingly compelling promotions.

Same audience, new stakes!   

The Result: 

A 14%+ response rate and an ROI that paid for itself twice over.

In healthcare, sometimes the biggest opportunity isn’t finding new patients — it’s catching the ones you’re about to lose.