Across healthcare, few challenges are as frequent and costly as patient no-shows. And, unfortunately, they’re on the rise. A study by the Medical Group Management Association discovered 49% of U.S. medical groups experienced a surge in last-minute cancellations between 2021 and 2022.

With AI and digital health development moving at warp speed, how can providers leverage recent technology to change this trend?

To understand the answer to this question, it’s first imperative to have a full picture of the impact no-shows and cancellations have on the entire healthcare system. Let’s dive into how abrupt absences affect care and how cutting-edge advancements are paving the way for better attendance rates.

The effects of no-shows and cancellations on healthcare

No-shows and cancellations can have significant negative impacts on healthcare, affecting both providers and patients in various ways:

• Financial loss for providers: If patients don’t  show up for their appointments or cancel at the last minute, healthcare providers face financial consequences. Each missed appointment represents income that isn’t easily recouped, leading to inefficiencies and reduced profitability for clinics and practices. These abrupt cancellations cumulate to over $150 billion in lost revenue per year in the U.S.

• Wasted resources: Healthcare facilities allocate time, space, and personnel for scheduled appointments. No-shows and cancellations result in wasted resources, as staff, exam rooms, and medical equipment remain underutilized. This inefficiency can strain the overall capacity and operational workflow of the healthcare provider.

• Reduced access to care: When patients fail to attend their scheduled appointments, it can prevent other patients from accessing timely care. Appointment slots that go unused could have been allocated to other patients in need, delaying care for those who require it — potentially worsening the country’s 26-day average wait time to see a doctor.

• Negative impact on patient health: Regular follow-ups and timely medical consultations are crucial for managing chronic conditions, monitoring treatment progress, and preventing complications. No-shows and cancellations can disrupt continuity of care, leading to worsened health outcomes for patients who miss essential or routine appointments.

• Increased administrative burden: Managing no-shows and cancellations adds to the administrative workload for healthcare providers — a key factor linked to increased burnout. Staff must spend additional time rescheduling appointments, contacting patients, and managing associated paperwork or data entry — possibly detracting from top-of-license care and placing more stress on an overwhelmed workforce.

Addressing no-shows and cancellations through effective strategies — such as those offered by digital health platforms — is essential to mitigating these negative impacts and ensuring more efficient, accessible, and fulfilling healthcare experiences for both providers and patients.

How digital health platforms can reduce no-shows

Digital health platforms can significantly reduce no-shows and cancellations through various innovative strategies:

1. Advanced patient prep and education

One significant contributor to last-minute cancellations is insufficient patient prep. The most common example of this is before individuals undergo colonoscopies (one study discovered 26% of patients have poor bowel preparation prior to these procedures).

Recent advancements in digital health hold the potential to transform patient prep. Whereas manual processes rely on paper pamphlets that patients might misplace or not fully understand, digitized prep processes consistently engage individuals leading up to an appointment to help ensure the right information is absorbed and acted upon.

Forward-thinking digital health tools provide patients with important steps they can follow to properly prepare. Memora Health’s intelligent care enablement platform goes a step further by proactively reaching out to patients through SMS before a procedure with preparation assessments, then providing guidance based off of the collected data. In this sense, Memora’s platform acts as a conversational AI ally that holds people’s hands throughout the process of preparing for operations or visits.

Take a deeper dive into using healthtech advancements to prepare patients for procedures.

2. Enhanced SDOH data collection

Another factor that often prevents individuals from attending appointments are social determinants of health (SDOH). For example, a national sample survey discovered CHF patients who missed over two clinic appointments within a year were more likely to report SDOH barriers in three distinct areas: living alone, social support, and housing.

SDOH can also lead to other issues. Lack of transportation can impact how easily patients can get to their appointments or access their prescriptions from the pharmacy. Food insecurity can make it difficult for people to follow nutrition guidelines. A lack of health literacy can influence key decisions individuals make throughout their care journeys — choices that can ultimately affect whether or not they show up for checkups.

However, these obstacles almost always occur away from the hospital. And care teams usually have few tools for understanding them and intervening to help individuals address them. Memora’s AI-backed platform has been developed to streamline and improve SDOH data collection by employing SMS — one of the most universally used modes of communication regardless of income level. It also surfaces actionable support resources patients can consider to assist with overcoming barriers to care, and provides timely, accurate information to care teams for effective follow-up.

3. AI-powered responsiveness

As previously mentioned, proactive assistance through digital channels is a game-changer for improving no-show rates. But what about when patients have spur-of-the-moment questions before upcoming procedures? Uncertainty about symptoms, what to expect, and proper preparation steps could thwart individuals from attending their appointments.

Many technologies from the past few years have fallen short of supporting individuals when concerns arise. For instance, automatic schedulers might simplify the process of booking an appointment. But an autopilot chatbot can’t understand questions about allowable foods and liquids the day before a surgery. 

That’s where conversational AI shows significant promise. Memora’s platform uses natural language processing to understand patients’ questions, then retrieve responses from a clinician-curated, client-assured database. That means individuals get the information they need to manage their appointment prep without the obstacles of waiting on the phone or, perhaps worse, taking a chance on Dr. Google. By having this level of intelligent assistance standing by, people can feel more confident and less anxious about their upcoming appointments — thus mitigating cancellations.

Surprise cancellations cause significant issues for patients, their providers, and the healthcare system at large. These negative consequences range from financial loss all the way to diminished health outcomes. Fortunately, novel digital health advancements are presenting effective solutions to the worsening problem of no-shows in healthcare. Consider platforms that proactively prepare patients, enhance your care teams’ ability to glean SDOH insights, and use AI to give individuals responsible, always-on support before their appointments.

‍Schedule a call with one of our experts to learn more about cutting no-shows with our platform.