No-show cost calculator for clinics

An empty appointment slot still costs you the room, the staff and the provider's time. This calculator turns your no-show rate into the revenue the practice loses each month, so you can see what a reminder system or a waitlist would need to save to pay for itself.

Scheduled visits per week

No-show rate (percent of scheduled visits)

Average revenue per completed visit (dollars)

Empty slots you refill from a waitlist (percent)

No-shows per week

9.6

Revenue lost per week

$1,056

Revenue lost per month

$4,576

Revenue lost per year

$54,912

Yearly cost of one point of no-show rate

$6,864

No-shows per week are scheduled visits times the no-show rate. Revenue lost is no-shows, times the share of slots you do not refill, times the average revenue per visit. The month figure is the weekly figure times 52, divided by 12. The numbers already in the boxes are made up and say nothing about what a typical practice sees. Count late cancellations you could not refill as no-shows.

How this works

The calculator multiplies three numbers. Scheduled visits per week times the no-show rate gives the number of missed visits. Each missed visit that you do not refill costs the average revenue a completed visit brings in. Weekly loss times 52 gives the year, and dividing the year by 12 gives a month.

With the starting numbers, 120 visits at an 8 percent no-show rate is 9.6 missed visits a week. At 110 dollars a visit with nothing refilled, that is 1,056 dollars a week, about 4,576 dollars a month. Replace each placeholder with your own figures before you rely on the result.

The limits are worth knowing. Revenue per visit should be what a completed visit actually collects after adjustments, not the amount you charge. The result ignores the supplies a missed visit does not use, so it slightly overstates the cost of visits that carry material costs, and it ignores no-show or late-cancellation fees you collect. It says nothing about the effect on the patient who missed care. If you overbook on purpose, enter the rate after overbooking. For more on the work around booking and reminders, see the scheduling and billing articles.