On average, 42% of appointments become no-shows, which is a tremendous financial hit for any doctor’s office.
No-shows is well documented and is a well-known issue. So why do patients not show up for their appointments?
Imagine the following scenario
You’re having a pain in your stomach and you call your doctor’s office for an appointment. You’re put on hold, and then you get your appointment in 3 days. You feel the clinic staff is not treating your problem seriously, but take the appointment either way because you’re concerned about your health. In these 3 days, you begin to worry that the pain you have may be cancer. You start to imagine the tests your doctor might perform. Finally, you convince yourself that the symptoms are not getting worse, so it must not be serious; you decide not to keep your appointment. You do not bother to telephone and tell the clinic because who likes to call?
This scenario summarizes a typical patient’s story for not showing up
- Inability to get an appointment right away
- Anxiety or fear about the cause of the symptoms and anticipated diagnostic tests
- Feeling unimportant because the doctor’s office is so busy
- Symptoms improving (or not getting worse)
- And lack of understanding of the scheduling system
- Although transportation, child care problems, expected long wait times, and other factors contribute to no-shows
The area of appointment keeping deserves much research. The interrelation of fear, respect, understanding of the appointment booking system, technology, and others contribute to high no-shows.