A growing number of hospitals are doing something about it — while others are hoping that patients just do the right thing.
A number of hospitals can charge patients $100 or more every time they don’t show up and don’t cancel appointments — owing to things like wasted staff time, wasted resources depending on the procedure, and other reasons.
Hospitals in this area generally don’t charge such a fee, but Graham Health Systems CEO Bob Senneff tells WGIL no-shows send a bad message.
“I think just culturally, and maybe it’s generationally, it just seems like there’s less and less respect for everything that everybody does, and it’s sad,” said Senneff. “When I was a kid or as a young adult, if you had an appointment with a professional, you made sure you were there ten minutes early and did everything you were supposed to do ahead of time. I don’t think that’s the culture anymore in some households, and that’s disappointing.”
Senneff says some practices can see as much as a ten percent no show rate, while others are about half that.
Does Senneff think it will ever become such a problem that Graham will change its mind and charge a fee? Senneff said no.
“It may get discussed just in passing, so to speak, with a group of docs who are dealing with having a bad day because they had a lot of no-shows,” said Senneff. “The other struggle is trying to collect something from somebody. If you’re not responsible enough to come to a visit with your physician, are we probably going to collect that $15 or $25 for that no-show? Probably not.”
Senneff says Graham tries to help patients as much as possible with things such as transportation to ensure they can make an appointment. He says at the end of the day, if patients don’t show up for appointments, their health is just going to get worse, and he hopes they wouldn’t want that.
Senneff spoke with WGIL’s “Galesburg’s Evening News” Wednesday. We will speak with a representative of OSF HealthCare Thursday at 5:10 p.m. OSF also doesn’t charge a “no-show” fee.
