No-Show Rates in Employed Otolaryngology Practice.

Abstract

To report baseline no-show rates in the hospital-employed otolaryngology practice setting and to identify factors that may affect clinic show rates that are targets for potential improvement. Retrospective chart review. Electronic medical records from October 2012 through July 2014 of a hospital-employed otolaryngology practice were reviewed. Patients were classified by insurance type: commercial, Medicare, Medicaid, and self-pay. Clinic visits were classified as new patient, follow-up, or postoperative. No-show rates were tabulated for each type of clinic visit and compared. Factors to improve no-show rates are discussed. There was an overall no-show rate of 8.3% for 5817 scheduled clinic visits. Among visit types, follow-up visits had the highest no-show rates. Among insurance types, Medicaid had the highest no-show rates. New patient Medicaid patients, follow-up Medicaid patients, and follow-up commercial insurance patients had the highest rate of no-shows among visit/insurance type combinations. Persistent reminders are a key factor in improving rate of clinic visit adherence. A previously unreported baseline no-show rate was established for hospital-employed otolaryngology clinics. The utilization of repeated, live-person reminders to mitigate the impact of clinic no-show rates needs to be further investigated.