What is your no show rate? No show fee?

[Therapist4Chnge]

I used to be ~3% while at my AMC doing strictly neuropsych evals. I used to go months w/o a no show. Rescheduled appts and weather related cancellations excluded. We did a letter 7-10 days out and a phone call 48hr before. Typically, the appts were set months in advance and the patient warned by my assistant and usually the referring doc that if they miss it'd likely be months added to the wait for testing.

I'm my PP my no show rate has risen and stabilized around 6%-8%, but was 10%+ in the beginning. We do printed reminders when the appt is made in the office (or letter sent) and an automated call 24-48hr before. It's a different mix of patient population and payors.

What are other ppl seeing out there? All types of appts and practice setups welcome. Also, do you charge a no show fee? How much?

PS. No, discussing no show fees is *not* collusion or price fixing, as anytime $ is discussed that issue is brought up.

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[Pragma]

I used to be ~3% while at my AMC doing strictly neuropsych evals. I used to go months w/o a no show. Rescheduled appts and weather related cancellations excluded. We did a letter 7-10 days out and a phone call 48hr before. Typically, the appts were set months in advance and the patient warned by my assistant and usually the referring doc that if they miss it'd likely be months added to the wait for testing.

I'm my PP my no show rate has risen and stabilized around 6%-8%, but was 10%+ in the beginning. We do printed reminders when the appt is made in the office (or letter sent) and an automated call 24-48hr before. It's a different mix of patient population and payors.

What are other ppl seeing out there? All types of appts and practice setups welcome. Also, do you charge a no show fee? How much?

PS. No, discussing no show fees is *not* collusion or price fixing, as anytime $ is discussed that issue is brought up.

Did I just see you say "there's no collusion?"

 

[WisNeuro]

T4C's post was perfect. Best posting ever in the history of SDN. No collusion.

 

[PsyDr]

For legal cases: 100% for no show, no call, day of.

For clinical cases: 50% of initial interview fee.

For Russians involved in election software: fake news.

 

[Unipsychler]

I'm in a cash pay group practice, doing therapy. We charge the full session fee for both no shows and late cancels (less than 48 hrs notice). True no shows are very rare, and with late cancels included it's about 5-10%. This is for sessions, though. We don't charge for intake no-shows, we just refuse to schedule you again after a couple strikes.

When I worked at a CMHC with a large Medicaid population and no no-show fee, it was about 25-30%.

 

[futureapppsy2]

When I worked at a CMHC with a large Medicaid population and no no-show fee, it was about 25-30%.

CMHC no-show rates are so frustrating, especially as a trainee needing F2F hours.

 

[Sanman]

My no shows? Below 5% currently and historically that or less at my previous job. The perks of home based and nursing home care, captive audience. The percentage of people that forgot I was coming and would have missed an appt? HUGE!

I'm at the VA, so the official no-show policy is two calls and a letter. The unofficial no-show policy is never discharge unless they are huge pain the ass because it isn't worth the White House complaint. Charge for no-shows? At the VA , yeah right. I could retire now if I got paid every time someone at the VA did not show up to a scheduled appt (and live a very comfortable life). How do I get that proposal approved I wonder?

 

[ClinicalABA]

So infrequent as to be trivial. Maybe a 1/2 dozen total out of 300 or so scheduled sessions per year. We don’t have a no-show fee- given our client profile, we couldn’t collect it anyways so it would just add extra work with the same results. I actually like no shows- bonus time to do reports or other fun stuff. Tend to book out at 150% minimum requirement (with max bonus capped at ~130%) so no big deal if I lose out on an hour intake every few months. If a testing case cancels, I got many willing to take that spot.

I think the low rates has to do with being an assessment center with only 2 sessions per client (as opposed to treatment with with many sessions). Also i have really good relationships with my referral sources and work HARD with them to make sure clients have realistic appointment times AND know that there is huge demand, so no messing around!

 

[PsyDaVinci]

Most of my work has been post-conviction/adjudication forensics (substance abuse, sexual behavior problems, chronic social adjustment, etc.). I prefer to stick to prison or secure hospital work, so if we have no shows it usually means something bigger and worse is going on. When I've done outpatient work, though, I've had a pretty good show rate at intake and/or assessment... there's still that optimism that I don't know what I'm doing and I can be sweet talked into saying there's no therapy/groups/interventions (even in situations when they are required by statute). It only gets worse from there, to the point I can't put a number on it.

I've never done no-show fees. Most of the people I end up working with are lucky to have a job at Arby's and the real cost of a no-show is a call to their probation/parole officer.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

It's been higher at other VAs I've worked in at the past; currently, I'd guess it's <10%. It's also been much higher (proportionally speaking) for the medicolegal work I've done (~20%), possibly because there weren't no-show fees. I imagine that may soon change.

 

[calimich]

Interesting thread and prompted me to learn how to run all kinds of reports in Simple Practice. I've had a small side practice about 1.5 years now and have had 10 no shows out of 486 booked appointments, ~2%.

Most are insurance clients, most are individual appointments, all are seen 8-5. I charge full fee for no shows, only one client has no-showed twice, and they've kept coming.

I ask for 48 hr cancellation notice and clients are able to manage their own appointment schedule via a client portal. They also receive email or txt reminders 24 hrs before the appointment.

 

[futureapppsy2]

So infrequent as to be trivial. Maybe a 1/2 dozen total out of 300 or so scheduled sessions per year. We don’t have a no-show fee- given our client profile, we couldn’t collect it anyways so it would just add extra work with the same results. I actually like no shows- bonus time to do reports or other fun stuff. Tend to book out at 150% minimum requirement (with max bonus capped at ~130%) so no big deal if I lose out on an hour intake every few months. If a testing case cancels, I got many willing to take that spot.

I think the low rates has to do with being an assessment center with only 2 sessions per client (as opposed to treatment with with many sessions). Also i have really good relationships with my referral sources and work HARD with them to make sure clients have realistic appointment times AND know that there is huge demand, so no messing around!

Same experience working private pay but sliding scale ASD/LD/ADHD assessment--long waiting lists and few no shows. We did have some clients never pay the final bill ,and so they never got their final assessment report.

 

[deleted343839]

As I built my practice (academic medicine setting, mix of Medicare/Medicaid/commercial insurance), I found that my no show rates gradually decreased the more difficult it became to get an appointment with me. We don't charge no-show fees.

 

[medium rare]

I charge my full fee for no-shows or late cancellations. I do not charge for missed initial appointments but I do require pre-payment if the missed initial appointment calls to reschedule. My no-show rate is ~ 5%.