Missed appointments cost the healthcare system $150 billion a year, and they can have a negative impact on patient care. While patients can often be forgiven for missing one appointment, a pattern of missed appointments is more concerning and requires action from the practice. A recent study conducted by athenahealth found that even one missed appointment makes a patient less likely to return to your practice within 18 months, and they are more than seven times as likely to leave altogether.
Fortunately, there are a number of ways to decrease patient no-shows, including reminders through phone calls, text messages, or online portals, and encouraging patients to cancel their appointments if they can’t attend. In addition, establishing a good relationship with your patients can help prevent them from skipping their appointments in the future. You can do this by sending patients birthday cards, holiday greetings, or personalized thank you notes.
The article also recognizes that a variety of factors contribute to patients’ decision to miss their appointments, including a lack of confidence in the doctor’s abilities, financial concerns, the need for transportation, mental health problems, and language barriers. It is important that we understand the underlying reasons for this behavior and seek to address them in order to improve patient outcomes and practice efficiency. missed appointments in healthcare