TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of missed appointments for out-patient physiotherapy on cost, efficiency, and patients' recovery
AU - Mbada, Chidozie E.
AU - Nonvignon, Justice
AU - Ajayi, Oluwatosin
AU - Dada, Olumide O.
AU - Awotidebe, Taofeek O.
AU - Johnson, Olubusola E.
AU - Olarinde, Ayobami
PY - 2013/6
Y1 - 2013/6
N2 - Missed appointments (MAs) constitute a challenge for clinicians and clinical administrators. This study assessed the rates of MAs and their impact on cost, efficiency, and patients' recovery. A 3-year retrospective audit was conducted in a Nigerian outpatient physiotherapy clinic. Data were gleaned on socio-demographic and clinical variables related to MAs. Efficiency was calculated as current asset divided by current liability; while total revenue loss due to MAs was calculated as a product of the total of MAs and per treatment cost. Of 930 appointments, 79.2% were MAs. MAs for first, second and third treatment schedules were 26.1%, 34.1% and 32.3%, respectively. The proportion of MAs was higher among females (80.3%), the elderly (>65 years) (90.6%), patients with neurological conditions (91.3%) and appointments in the month of December (94.3%). If the per treatment schedule cost is $10, a 79.2% MAs rate will result in $7370 revenue loss and 737 lost opportunities to treat patients. MAs lowered efficiency by 79.0%, with an efficiency ratio of 0.21. If MAs slow a patient's recovery process by 2 days, then 79.2% of MAs could potentially impact patient recovery time by 1474 days. MAs for outpatient physiotherapy are a momentous challenge and signify important losses in terms of cost, efficiency and recovery time for patients.
AB - Missed appointments (MAs) constitute a challenge for clinicians and clinical administrators. This study assessed the rates of MAs and their impact on cost, efficiency, and patients' recovery. A 3-year retrospective audit was conducted in a Nigerian outpatient physiotherapy clinic. Data were gleaned on socio-demographic and clinical variables related to MAs. Efficiency was calculated as current asset divided by current liability; while total revenue loss due to MAs was calculated as a product of the total of MAs and per treatment cost. Of 930 appointments, 79.2% were MAs. MAs for first, second and third treatment schedules were 26.1%, 34.1% and 32.3%, respectively. The proportion of MAs was higher among females (80.3%), the elderly (>65 years) (90.6%), patients with neurological conditions (91.3%) and appointments in the month of December (94.3%). If the per treatment schedule cost is $10, a 79.2% MAs rate will result in $7370 revenue loss and 737 lost opportunities to treat patients. MAs lowered efficiency by 79.0%, with an efficiency ratio of 0.21. If MAs slow a patient's recovery process by 2 days, then 79.2% of MAs could potentially impact patient recovery time by 1474 days. MAs for outpatient physiotherapy are a momentous challenge and signify important losses in terms of cost, efficiency and recovery time for patients.
KW - Cost
KW - Efficiency
KW - Missed appointments
KW - Outpatient physiotherapy
KW - Patients' recovery
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84878637418&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.hkpj.2012.12.001
DO - 10.1016/j.hkpj.2012.12.001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84878637418
SN - 1013-7025
VL - 31
SP - 30
EP - 35
JO - Hong Kong Physiotherapy Journal
JF - Hong Kong Physiotherapy Journal
IS - 1
ER -