Posted by Karen Grace Larsen
For many medical offices—perhaps including yours—missed appointments and last-minute cancellations have long been a major cause of lost revenue.
After so many advancements in healthcare automation and artificial intelligence (AI), you’d expect the issue to have improved in the last few years. Unfortunately, the problem persists.
According to a 2024 Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) poll, 50% of respondents say their patient no-show rates have remained the same, while 37% report an increase.
And the financial impact is staggering. On average, missed appointments could add up to a loss of $7,500 per month—that’s $90,000 in one year! They also disrupt clinic operations, waste staff time, and compromise patients’ continuity of care.
But no-shows don’t have to drain your revenue. With the right electronic health record (EHR) system and technology in place, your office can predict, prevent, and cut down on missed patient appointments.
Why Patients Don’t Show Up to Appointments
Before you can start working on a strategy to help patients follow through on their scheduled visits, you need to understand why they don’t. Here are common reasons behind patient no-shows, according to several recent studies:
1. Forgetting the Appointment
Life is busy, and many patients simply forget their scheduled visit. According to a 2019 qualitative evaluation, many no-shows are caused by patients losing track of their appointment date and time.
Patient demographics also appear to affect the likelihood of a patient no-show. For example, a 2023 study published in Clinical Medicine & Research found that certain groups of patients tend to forget their appointments more than others:
- Male Patients vs. Female Patients
- Older Adults vs. Younger Patients
- Patients Who Spoke Other Languages vs. English Speakers
2. Transportation Challenges
In a survey involving 200 pediatric patients with a history of missing appointments, 51% of their parents cited transportation issues as the main reason for not attending their scheduled visits.
Transportation challenges can be a barrier even in places with established infrastructure and advanced transportation systems. Long commutes, limited access to reliable transportation, bad weather, or mobility issues can prevent patients from making it to their appointments.
3. Financial Concerns
The cost of medical visits is a significant deterrent for many patients. The 2019 qualitative evaluation (mentioned previously) highlights how financial problems, like the inability to afford the co-pay, prompted many patients to forgo their clinic appointments.
As one of the study’s participants, Patient K, put it, “My insurance ran out, and I didn’t have money for the visit.”
From No-Shows to Full Schedules: How Technology Can Help
Even with cutting-edge technologies in place, many practices still struggle with no-shows. The key is to go beyond basic automation and embrace more personalized and data-driven approaches.
Here’s how innovative technology can help you cut revenue loss caused by patient no-shows and last-minute cancellations:
1. Personalized Patient Experience
Basic appointment reminders are helpful, but nearly every EHR solution offers that. And they can only go so far in terms of keeping patient appointments top of mind.
If you want to improve your clinic’s quality of care, take automation to the next level and deliver personalized patient experiences. IMS, for example, offers the following features to ensure each automated reminder creates maximum impact:
- IMS InTouch: By setting up custom text and email templates in your EHR system, your practice’s automated appointment reminders can include the patient’s name, appointment details, and provider information for more personal and effective outreach.
- IMS Chat: With a two-way SMS and email messaging service, you can make it easier for patients to confirm, reschedule, or cancel their appointments. Reduce unpredictable no-shows and last-minute cancellations with enhanced patient communication.
- IMS Care: Bridge communication gaps with a user-friendly patient portal application. Empower your patients by securely delivering appointment details, timely reminders, and important instructions straight to their mobile devices.
I like how I am able to converse with my patients via the patient portal without having to go through the front office staff. I think that builds my rapport with the patient and develops my relationship with them so they know that I am accessible to them directly."
Dr. Lesley Dotson
Chief Medical Officer, Big Sandy Health Care
2. Data-Driven Predictive Analytics
Thanks to the latest technological advancements, your practice can leverage data-driven predictive analytics to anticipate and prevent patient no-shows.
Powerful patient engagement software, like IMS, uses AI to review patient data and identify patterns and risk factors. It then calculates a patient’s no-show probability and displays it as you schedule their next appointment.
With access to such features and insight, your team can plan your next steps, such as proactively reaching out to patients with a high no-show probability, customizing automated appointment reminders to go out more frequently, or offering priority rescheduling options.
3. Flexible Payment Options
Because cost concerns are a major no-show factor, your practice must offer convenient and flexible payment solutions that remove financial barriers and encourage appointment attendance.
Instead of having basic medical billing services, you can equip your practice with an EHR-integrated payment processing system. IMS Payment Processing, for example, allows you to offer patients the following:
- Payment options that suit patients (e.g., debit card, credit card, contactless, ACH transfer, etc.)
- Online bill payment options
- Transparent payment process through detailed statements and real-time updates
- Payment collection at the time of service
- User-friendly and intuitive payment interface
4. Patient Engagement Solutions
Engaging lost and inactive patients is one way to minimize missed appointments and boost practice revenue. While patient recall is a complex process, the good news is that you don’t have to do it alone. You can leave the heavy lifting to patient engagement solutions like Brevium!
Integrated into Meditab’s flagship software, IMS, Brevium helps you:
- Analyze your EHR data to find patients who have missed appointments or stopped scheduling follow-ups.
- Automate outreach efforts by sending targeted reminders to patients before they slip through the cracks.
- Maximize appointment slots by filling calendar gaps with returning patients.
- Recapture lost revenue from missed appointments by getting more patients back into the care cycle.
5. Telemedicine Technology
Transportation challenges account for a large percentage of missed appointments. If your patients struggle to show up for their clinic visits, it might be a good idea to take the visit to them.
Telehealth allows patients who struggle with in-person visits to receive care from the comfort of their homes. When you have a HIPAA-compliant telemedicine platform integrated with your EHR system, you can:
- Eliminate transportation barriers by converting in-person visits to virtual ones.
- Reduce cancellations by providing an alternative care method.
- Make documentation and patient management more efficient.
Once we got IMSGo fully implemented, now all providers do their telemedicine through their own cell phone, which is used for both audio and visual, so we stay compliant with telemedicine requirements. [At the same time], we can have IMS open on our desktop to type in notes just like the patient was in the office.”
Scott Reed Shimamoto
Founder, San Tan Allergy & Asthma
IMS: The EHR for Smarter Scheduling & Revenue Management
Whether you realize it or not, missed appointments cost you precious time, money, and clinic resources. Stop letting patient no-shows and last-minute cancellations hurt your practice’s profit potential.
With a fully equipped EHR system like IMS, you can anticipate, avoid, and address missed appointments. Fix the revenue leaks in your practice with smarter scheduling and revenue management.
Keep your calendar full and your bottom line strong with IMS!
