How your patients see the Everseat app.
BALTIMORE—Everseat, the app that fills last minute cancellations, is only a year old and already serves over 40 specialties, including optometry and ophthalmology. “When we can match up someone’s need with our open time, it’s an effective tool,” said Richard Edlow, OD, an early adopter who uses the technology in his one location practice, Catonsville Eye Group, and in two of Katzen Eye Group’s five locations, both in the Baltimore metropolitan area.

Edlow’s return on investment calculations after using Everseat for only a few months lead him to be a strong proponent of the app. He estimates that each refilled last-minute cancellation generates about $280, based on a cost of about $2 per day for the monthly license, revenue of $80 for the average eye exam and $300 for the average eyewear sale (minus one-third for cost of goods sold). “ROI is tangible, real and relatively fast,” said Everseat co-founder and CEO, Jeff Peres.

The app is particularly effective for practices with many appointments across multiple locations. The day dba interviewed Edlow, 23 of 621 appointments were canceled. “If we can fill just one to two of those appointments, that’s significant,” Edlow told dba. He explained that the app is particularly effective for pediatric ophthalmologists: “Kids get sick all the time, and lots of moms are home with kids and can bring them in at the last minute.”

The app is free for users on either iTunes or Google Play. The provider posts an open appointment using the “Add a Seat” button on the practice computer’s dashboard, and app users notified of the appointment can click the “Get Me In” button to accept a newly opened appointment. A notification then pops up on the office dashboard that the patient is looking for that appointment, and the staff can either confirm or deny the request. If confirmed, the patient receives a push notification and text that the appointment has been confirmed, and the time and date are automatically placed into the user’s smartphone calendar.

How your office manages the app to refill last minute cancellations.
In addition to filling last minute cancellations, Everseat has filed patent applications on some other functions as well. One called “Need It” enables users to turn on the “Need It” switch when they are looking for a specific appointment. Another patent is pending for a tool that would allow users to book appointments for loved ones in addition to themselves. A third is designed to cut back or eliminate no shows.

Everseat CEO Peres predicts that 2015 will be a big year for integrating with practice management systems. “We’ve been approached by many and are actually working with five right now,” he told dba.

While the company was started about a year ago at the end of 2013, the app itself didn’t launch until May 2014 because the first six months were used for development and planning. Started with an ENT physician, Everseat was based on the premise that while there are a lot of last minute cancellations for all kinds of professional services that rely on schedules (not just medical) then there are also likely consumers nearby in need of those services who could be found and notified using GPS technology.

With optometry and ophthalmology among the more than 40 medical specialties already using Everseat, others include veterinary, dentistry, gastroenterology, plastic surgery and mammography. Dog groomers are among the providers using the technology outside of the medical sphere.

Edlow explained that usage increases as more specialists sign up for the service in a particular region. “Everseat has been building some decent momentum, and the nice thing is that in a geographical market where it is growing with other providers and services, there are more people in communication with the app,” said Edlow, whose practices are based in the same geographical area as Everseat.

“In today’s world, there’s a smartphone in someone’s hand at every waking moment,” said Edlow, explaining why the app has been so effective for his many optical locations throughout the Baltimore metropolitan area.

jsailer@jobson.com