Best Practice Strategies Utilized by Therapist to Reduce the Rate of Patient Missed Appointments

The healthcare system has demonstrated significant difficulty in minimizing patient cancellations and no show rates. Dodd Outpatient Rehabilitation Services at The Ohio State University Medical Center has displayed a 20.66% cancellation rate/no show rate from December 2007 to September 2008. The goal of this study was to identify the best practice strategies utilized by staff therapists at Dodd Outpatient Rehabilitation, to minimize cancellation and no show rates in the department and to investigate the impact of exit interviews that incorporate best practice strategies. A Best Practice Survey (BPS) was developed by the investigating team. The survey instrument was designed to identify the practices that therapist used to encourage patient attendance. The individuals who participated in the study were divided into two groups. The first group was composed of therapists with an average cancellation and no show rate less than or equal to 19%. All participants completed the BPS and the results were compared. The information from the literature review and the results of the BPS was utilized to create a one hour in-service that approximately 50% of the subjects, were randomly selected to attend. The intervention group was instructed to utilize the recommendation introduced during the in-service for a two month period. The control group received no intervention. The cancellation/no show rate of the two groups were compared to determine if the utilization of an exit interview that incorporated best practice strategies would decrease the rate of missed therapy appointments. The findings suggest that an individual therapist action alone does not significantly minimize cancellation and no show rates.