Patient no-show rate
Also known as: no-show rate, missed appointment rate, DNA rate (did not attend)
Patient no-show rate is the share of booked appointments in a period where the patient neither attended nor cancelled in advance, out of all appointments booked for that period.
No-show rate = appointments not attended without notice / appointments booked × 100%No-show rate shows how many booked slots turn into empty chairs. A no-show differs from a cancellation: a patient who calls the day before frees a slot the clinic can refill, while a no-show leaves a doctor idle. The step before it is the call-to-booking rate; together they show how many requests become actual visits.
Example
A private clinic reviews March. Appointments booked: 1,600. Cancelled at least 24 hours ahead: 160. Cancelled on the day: 52. Patients who neither came nor called: 128.
No-show rate: 128 / 1,600 = 8%.
Late cancellation rate: 52 / 1,600 = 3.25%.
At an average visit value of $90, the 128 empty slots cost 128 × $90 = $11,520, before counting the doctors’ paid time. The figures are illustrative.
How to use it
Decide what counts as a no-show and write it down: for example, no arrival and no cancellation at least 2 hours before the slot. Track late cancellations separately, because they need a different fix.
Break the rate down by booking channel, by how far ahead the visit was booked and by first versus repeat visit. A first visit booked from an ad 14 days ahead usually behaves differently from a follow-up booked at the desk for next week.
Test reminders one change at a time: an SMS 24 hours before, a confirmation call 48 hours before, a messenger reminder 2 hours before. Compare each group over the same 4 to 6 weeks.
Common mistakes
- Counting late cancellations as attended, which hides lost slots.
- Using appointments that took place as the denominator instead of all appointments booked.
- Ignoring patients rebooked by the administrator after a missed visit; the first slot is still a no-show.
- Penalising patients before measuring which channel or reminder gap produces most no-shows.