Correlation of Appointment Times and Subspecialty With the No-Show Rates in an Orthopedic Ambulatory Clinic

Unexpectedly missed appointments ("no-shows") cause clinic inefficiency, lost time and revenue, wasted healthcare resources, and provider dissatisfaction. No-shows can be associated with miscommunication, transportation difficulties, employment status, age, race, and socioeconomic status. This study investigates the association between no-show rates and patient, appointment time, and provider characteristics. Data for all scheduled appointments in a single orthopedic multispecialty institution during calendar year 2016 were obtained. Data points included patient age, gender, and race; hour; month; and subspecialty. Chi-square testing was used to compare no-show and kept appointments with respect to patient and appointment characteristics. Logistic regression was used to calculate differences in no-show rates between orthopedic subspecialties. The overall no-show rate was 11.5%. Race, age, and subspecialties were all found to be associated with higher no-show rates. No significant differences were observed for gender, appointment time, or month of appointment. The authors suggest that patients at higher risk of not showing up for scheduled appointments may need extra effort from providers to accommodate the patients' schedules when making appointments, to confirm their appointments a few days before, and/or to incentivize patients to minimize no-shows.