Targeted outreach to reduce no-show rates: a quality improvement project

The clinical problem addressed by this project centered on high rates of no-shows in an outpatient psychiatric facility. No-shows have detrimental impacts at the individual, organizational, and societal levels which can result in poorer health outcomes, operational disruptions, and financial loss. The proposed intervention involved utilizing a predictive model based on patients’ prior no-show history to identify individuals at elevated risk for missing appointments, followed by targeted outreach phone calls to those identified as high risk. An a approach expected to reduce no-shows because reminder-based interventions, such as phone calls, have demonstrated effectiveness in improving appointment attendance, and prior no-show history has been shown to be a strong predictor of future missed appointments.