How do patient no-shows affect
the healthcare industry?
Why does this happen?
How can healthcare systems
mitigate this?
So what?
Here’s a good start
How do patient no-shows affect
the healthcare industry?
Why does this happen?
How can healthcare systems
mitigate this?
So what?
Here’s a good start
By: Cooper Rosner
When looking at the shortcomings of the healthcare industry and areas in which it could improve, there is no doubt that patient no-shows need to be a higher priority. With patients who miss their appointments, the American health system suffers a loss of approximately $150 billion annually, and physicians about $200 per visit (2). However, this is not a unilateral issue. Studies have shown that rescheduling a visit is rare when patients fail to attend appointments. Patients’ health suffers when they don’t arrive for the care they need, and continuous health issues are the result.
According to the American Hospital Association, 3.6 million Americans(1) forego medical care yearly due to transportation issues. It becomes evident that many of the no-shows that account for $150 billion in lost revenue for the healthcare industry are most likely transportation-related issues, including traffic delays, poor wayfinding information, and shortcomings in state-by-state infrastructure. These challenges highlight the need to streamline the process for a patient. Navigation from their front door to the door of their doctor’s office should be the goal.
Healthcare facilities cannot fix the infrastructure of buildings at a modest cost or rewire patients’ brains to be more prudent in making it to their appointments on time. However, they can improve the patient experience to reduce patient no-shows and limit the number of transportation-related healthcare avoidances. This has proven difficult to improve with the realization of hospital design problems leading to visitor struggles to navigate the maze of the modern medical campus. What can we conclude from this?
More and more hospitals utilize apps such as Epic’s MyChart to track patients’ medical records and remind them of upcoming appointments. The patient experience seems more likely to become more condensed and user-friendly. We see hospitals moving from the physical to the digital world for wayfinding, with interactive wayfinding apps to navigate from home to parking, parking to entry, and entry to their appointment on the 5th floor. Hospitals continue to find it difficult to update their resources manually, thus the vexing and lingering problem of patient no-shows. We must continue to refine the experience, making it as convenient as possible for patients to go to places they typically want to avoid in the first place. Any platform that can combine and streamline the entire process would be mutually beneficial for healthcare facilities and the well-being of their patients.
Cartogram provides a comprehensive solution, targeting every potential issue of indoor wayfinding. Our services are designed to optimize navigation experiences within complex indoor spaces, such as hospitals, campuses, airports, and commercial facilities. With a commitment to delivering user-friendly and efficient solutions, Cartogram empowers businesses to improve customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
You and your team can tackle four key steps in-house to improve your patient experience.
Ready to revolutionize indoor navigation at your hospital? Request a demo here and discover how BLE Beacons will enhance patient experiences and optimize staff efficiency to take your hospital’s navigation to the next level!