Softwiro
Free tool

Clinic no-show cost calculator

Enter the appointments due each month, how many patients did not come and your fee per visit to see your no-show rate, what you lose a month and a year, what a reminder system might recover, and the most it is worth paying for one.

Bright empty clinic waiting room with a row of blue chairs and a reception counter
Photo: Los Muertos Crew · Pexels

The example figures are illustrative, not data from a real clinic.

1. Your appointments
appts

Appointments that were due to take place, leaving out those cancelled in time and refilled.

patients

Optional: shows the loss per doctor.

2. Reminder or deposit scenario
%

You enter it. For reference: a systematic review of hospital studies (Hasvold and Wootton, 2011) found reminders cut non-attendance by about 29% (automated) to 39% (calls by staff) of the baseline rate. Your clinic may differ.

Optional: the subscription, message costs and staff time.

How the figures are worked out

  • No-show rate = patients who neither came nor cancelled in time ÷ appointments due × 100.
  • Revenue lost per month = no-shows × average fee per visit. Per year = monthly × 12.
  • Revenue recovered = revenue lost × the drop you expect.
  • Break-even cost of a reminder system = the revenue recovered per month; a system that costs less than that pays for itself.
  • Drop needed to cover the cost = system cost ÷ revenue lost per month.

An illustrative example, not from any particular clinic: 400 appointments due a month, 48 patients who did not come, and a fee of 300. The no-show rate is 48 ÷ 400 = 12%. Revenue lost is 48 × 300 = 14,400 a month, or 172,800 a year. If a reminder system cuts no-shows by 30% (an illustrative figure), you recover 4,320 a month, so any cost below that is covered. At 1,500 a month the net is 2,820, and a drop of just 10.4% would cover the cost.

What the studies say about reminders

A systematic review of telephone and SMS reminders for hospital appointments (Hasvold and Wootton, 2011) concluded that reminders reduce non-attendance; weighted by study quality, the reduction was about 39% of the baseline rate for manual phone calls and about 29% for automated reminders. These are hospital studies from other countries, so enter a drop you think is realistic for your clinic, and measure your rate before the change and a month after.

What the tool does not count

  • The figures are lost fees only. The doctor’s idle time and the empty chair are extra losses they leave out.
  • An appointment cancelled early and refilled costs nothing, so do not count it as a no-show.
  • A deposit or a fee for missed visits is a clinic policy decision: check what your patients and speciality will accept, and do not announce a penalty you will not enforce.

This is general information for planning, not financial or medical advice, and every figure in the example is illustrative.

The sum shows the size of the problem; measuring it every month shows whether you are improving. MyClinic (Sehaty) lets patients search appointments by speciality and location and book without a phone call, and its clinic analytics show monthly appointments and completion rate. For the practical steps, read how to reduce clinic no-shows.

See MyClinic · Request a demo

Sources

Questions

How do I calculate the cost of patient no-shows?

Multiply the number of patients who neither came nor cancelled by your average fee for the revenue lost per month, then by 12 for the year. The figure leaves out the doctor’s idle time.

How do I calculate a no-show rate?

Divide the patients who did not come and did not cancel in time by the appointments due, then multiply by 100. So 48 no-shows out of 400 appointments is 12%.

Do reminders really reduce no-shows?

Yes, according to a systematic review of hospital studies (Hasvold and Wootton, 2011): about 29% for automated reminders and 39% for manual calls, of the baseline rate. Your clinic may differ, so measure it.

How much should I pay for a reminder system?

Not more per month than the revenue you expect it to recover, which the calculator shows as the break-even monthly cost. The more cautious your expected drop, the safer the decision.

Should I charge patients for a missed appointment?

That is a clinic policy decision. If you do, state it at booking, repeat it in the reminder, apply it equally, and check what your patients and speciality will accept.

Do you store the figures I enter?

No. The calculation runs in your browser and nothing is sent to us. To come back to it, use "Copy link to this calculation".

Read the guide

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