Managing No-Shows with Appointment Reminder Solutions

Patient no-shows are common among healthcare providers. Not only are these costly to healthcare organizations, but these no-shows also pose life-threatening effects to patients themselves. To solve this, healthcare providers, payers, and health centers must implement systems that will both predict and address patient no-shows. 

Costs of Patient No-Shows

A “no-show” happens when a non-attending person does not use or cancels his/her scheduled appointment. The common causes for patient no-shows are:

• Lack of transportation
• No caregiver to look after child/children
• Financial constraints
• Patient forgets appointment

Effects on Patients

When patients aren’t able to attend their scheduled appointments, continuity of care is interrupted. Taking medications and other preventive measures against illnesses cannot be properly monitored by doctors. The delay in patient care can result in heightened risks for future complications. Missing appointments can also lead to fewer healthcare appointments in the future. According to the Health and Social Care Information Centre in England3, patients who missed their appointments failed to attend three or more further appointments in the next 3 months.

Effects on Healthcare Providers

Patient no-shows are costly. The resources from unused time slots are still paid for by healthcare providers. As of 2017, no-shows cost the U.S. healthcare system about $150 million a year1. For every unused time slot, it costs individual physicians an average of $2001. Significant financial damage will occur if healthcare providers, payers, and health centers do not prepare for patient no-shows. 

Addressing the Costs

A 2016 study by Mohamed, Mustafa, Tahtamouni, et. al.2 revealed that the rate of patient no-show decreased after implementing changes to the appointment system and patient communication strategies. When patients are able to immediately change their appointment schedules and streamlined communication is present between clinical and admin teams, they are more willing to show up to their appointments. 

Appointment Reminder Solutions

There are many solutions out there that make it easier to remind patients of their doctor appointments. These solutions typically use both offline and online methods through automated appointment reminder solutions via text, voice, and email. Whether helping with scheduling an appointment, predicting patient no-shows, or something else, these tools can be super powerful.

How to configure reminders:

1. Choose how and when messages will be delivered — and to whom.
2. The platform will automatically pull records from your EMR based on your appointment types, providers, and clinics.
3. Patients receive a text, voice, or email reminder and respond with a confirmation or cancellation.
4. Responses, confirmations, and cancellations are displayed in your self-service portal and pushed directly into your practice management system.

Automated appointment reminder solutions maximize productivity when it comes to providing quality care. Not only does this feature reduce the likelihood for patient no-shows, but it fills cancellation slots within minutes, increases scheduling capacity, and facilitates real-time healthcare conversations. By using a messaging platform like this, you can maximize front office efficiency through its patient-centered features. If you’re looking for an appointment reminder solution, one platform we like is https://www.providertech.com/appointment-reminders/.

References:

1. Gier, Jamie. “Missed appointments cost the US healthcare system $150 B each year.” Health Management Technology 2 (2017).
2. Mohamed, K., Mustafa, A., Tahtamouni, S., Taha, E., & Hassan, R. (2016). A quality improvement project to reduce the ‘No Show’ rate in a paediatric neurology clinic. BMJ Open Quality, 5(1), u209266-w3789.
3. Williamson, Andrea E., et al. “Understanding repeated non-attendance in health services: a pilot analysis of administrative data and full study protocol for a national retrospective cohort.” BMJ open 7.2 (2017): e014120.