Setting up appointments is not a guarantee that patients will show up at the agreed time and date. Often, you are required to set up a patient reminder app. This will improve the efficiency of appointments and reduce the no-show rate.
You most likely want to know how to calculate your no-show rate in appointments and know the effects this will have on your work. Although some patients do not miss appointments intentionally, know how to calculate your no-show rates.
- Find the average number of daily no-show appointments. This means you have to keep track and collect all the appointments that were missed in the month. With the data at hand, calculate the daily average by diving the general data by the number of days in the month. For example, in a month of 30 days, 6 appointments were not fulfilled. To find the average number of the missed appointments, do 6 divides by 30. Note that this does not include appointments that have been rescheduled.
- Find the average number of daily appointments. This means the appointments that are yet to take place but have been scheduled for. To find the average for this, take the number of days in the intended month and divide by the scheduled appointments. For example, if you have scheduled 42 appointments in a month of 30 days, divide 42 by 30.
- Divide the average number of daily no-shows by the average number of daily appointments. For example, in the above scenario, the average number of daily no-show appointments is 0.2. The average number of daily appointments is 1.4. The final step is dividing 0.2 by 1.4. The total is multiplied by 100 of which this case is 14%. Most no-show rates range between 2% and 15%.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpWR22cbzGk
Effects of no-show rates
Financial loss
If the patients had made their appointments and failed to show up, this means you will encounter losses in your work. This is why it is important to have a patient reminder app.
Time cost
If you had set aside time to tend to a patient and they do not show up, the time set aside will go to waste. This can be avoided by having double booking services for those who are not likely to come or using a waiting list.
Operation cost
Resources set aside for use at the time of the appointment will be idle and the profit they would have gained at that time will go to lose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZjc7G6Trto&t=1s
In case a client does not report they will not make it to the agreed appointment, this will affect the relationship between both of them.
In conclusion, it is important to constantly remind your patients of appointments through a patient reminder app. This will encourage them to attend and in case something comes up, gives them a chance to reschedule to another time. It is also important to do follow-ups and know the rate at which your patients show up.
