No-show no-no

I received this transcript from a CBC Radio Saskatchewan program:

CBC-RADIO, SASK. FEBRUARY 4, 2008. 6:30 HRS.

There could be warning signs at the doctor's office that say you have to pay a charge for missed appointments

PAT HUME [ANNOUNCER]
Don't be surprised if you see warning signs posted on the wall at your next appointment with a medical specialist. Those signs advise patients that if they miss or cancel appointments they could be billed. For skipped appointments the average is between $30 and $50 dollars. For missed procedures the cost is much higher.

Dr. Joe Pfeifer is President of the Saskatchewan Medical Association and a surgeon in Saskatoon. He says in his practice approximately one out of every ten patients misses or cancels appointments each day. Pfeifer says people also skip MRIs, CAT Scan and colonoscopies, procedures with huge waiting lists.

DR. JOE PFEIFER [President - Sask Medical Association]
Patients who do not show for appointments or procedures just create more of a burden on the system. It's a little disappointing that sometimes people have an attitude that is not the most responsible when it comes to health care because it is needy and there is such a shortage of resources and physicians. It's just sad to see them used badly.

PAT HUME [ANNOUNCER]
Under the Saskatchewan Medical Association's guide to uninsured services patients can be billed up to 50% of the cost of the missed appointment or procedure. Pfeifer says his office has seen fewer no-shows since a warning has appeared at the bottom of appointment cards.

Since we started our Advanced Access project last year, I've paid more attention to missed appointments or "no-shows". We've been tracking them regularly. In our practice, there's a 10-15% no-show rate. No-shows are different than cancelled appointments in that we at least get some warning about cancellations. Not so no-shows. They're completely wasted capacity. We don't know about them until after the appointment time has passed.

That's very frustrating for busy physicians who are trying to deal with long wait times. However, I'm disturbed by the tone of the CBC interview. It makes it sound like an adversarial process. Us vs. them. Only bad people miss appointments.

And they should pay a price!

What we have here is a treatment prescribed before a diagnosis is made.

Before laying blame, physicians need to look at the reasons for no-shows. Perhaps the letter announcing the appointment went astray. When that has happened at my office, the patient (or the referring physician) will call after a few weeks to ask when their appointment will be made. My staff will tell them that their appointment date has already passed, and we'll make a new appointment. Sometimes, under those circumstances, the patient will apologize for not attending the first appointment, even though it was our error in not notifying him!

Perhaps the problem is lack of transportation (Saskatchewan is a big place!), a sick child, or another unpredictable event. (Hard as it is to imagine, a doctor's appointment isn't always the most important event in a person's day!)

I'm interested in how no-show's relate to the length of wait between referral date and consultation date. When we started to work on reducing wait times in our office, patients were waiting up to 4 months for appointments. I have trouble remembering appointments 2 weeks from now (ask my wife), let alone 4 months!

Certainly, if you have a medical problem that's painful or debilitating, you'll remember that appointment with the doctor. But some "problems" (such as abnormal lab tests like high PSA levels, or traces of blood in the urine) don't cause symptoms. Pretty easy to forget when you're trying to get a crop off the field.

I wonder what charging for no-shows accomplishes. Perhaps it does reduce no-show rates, but what does it do for physicians' relationships with their patients? Given the relative lack of specialists in Saskatchewan, will some patients feel pressure to pay the fee, even if they had a valid reason for missing the appointment. And, if exceptions are allowed, who's going to judge their validity? I know I already have enough work to do without adding administrative work. I doubt that my office staff would be happy in this role, either.



Although it's certainly inadvertent, the message I get from the CBC piece is that the system is built to suit providers, not patients. Rather than blaming patients for missing appointments, let's try this: Ask what we could do differently to serve them better.

Could we:

Let patients choose their own appointment time?


Phone patients with a reminder 48 hours in advance?


Reduce our wait times?

By the way, doc, if you work on reducing your no-show rate, you'll also increase your revenues. (In a more satisfying way than by nickel-and-diming your patients with punitive fees.)

Physician, heal thyself.