A new study published in Gastroenterology found improving phone systems and highlighting the importance of canceling procedures in advance decreased the no-show rate for veterans at a VA hospital.
According to the study authors, a high no-show rate can hurt revenues, decrease productivity and decrease access to endoscopies. To find and better understand the root cause for the high no-show rate for ambulatory endoscopies in the endoscopy unit, the authors interviewed patients over a two month period from December 2016 to January 2017.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Patients reported difficulty in contacting office staff to cancel colonoscopy and upper endoscopy appointments 15 percent of the time, in addition to not knowing who to call 41 percent of the time.
2. The patients were aware of their appointments in 89 percent of cases, and 93 percent had received a reminder in the form of a letter or phone call.
3. The patients cited difficulty with preparation as a reason for not showing up, in addition to transportation issues and illness.
4. Through streamlining the cancellation process, the hospital’s no-show rate dropped from 16 percent to 7.8 percent from December 2016 to May 2017 .
“Lean methodology can be effectively leveraged to solve operations problems in endoscopy suites. Using a root-cause analysis and rapid improvement cycles, we reduced the composite colonoscopy and upper endoscopy no-show rate by 50 percent over a six-month period,” the authors concluded.