Strategies to Reduce No-Shows

Missed medical appointments waste staff time, affect practices’ bottom lines and result in negative outcomes for patients. A recent Forbes study found that no-shows cost the U.S. healthcare system more than $150 billion a year and can cost individual doctors an average of $200 per unused time slot. No-shows can also impact patients’ health by interrupting continuity of care. It means that patients are not being seen on a consistent basis, and therefore chronic conditions and medications aren’t being monitored regularly. 

Find out some common reasons for no-shows and what you can do to reduce them and improve overall patient adherence in your practice. The study authors noted that additional reasons for no-shows include a patient’s misunderstanding or confusion about the disease or the test, long wait time between scheduling and the actual appointment, insurance coverage, language and transportation difficulties.

Past patient behavior can be a predictor of future no-shows, according to an athenahealth study. Patients who missed even just one appointment with their primary care physician were much less likely to return within the next 18 months. Attrition rates varied by age, with patients 61 and over with one or more no-shows leaving a practice at a rate of almost 73%.