Patients who miss their medical appointments increase health care costs for themselves and for clinics. The purpose of this qualitative, single exploratory case study was to explore strategies health care clinic managers use to reduce medical no-shows for patient-scheduled appointments. Change management theory guided the scope and analysis. The data collection included a single clinical operations manager who have strategies to mitigate no-shows for patient-scheduled appointments participated in a semistructured interview in southeastern Virginia, the direct observation of 2 office workers in their natural setting of scheduling appointments, and for methodological triangulation, a review of organizational archival documents about missed medical appointments. Member checking was used to strengthen the credibility and trustworthiness of analyses, which were carried out using Yin's 5-step analysis process. Major themes were forgetfulness and high deductible plan; minor themes were lead-time and inclement weather that lead to no-shows. This study explored the strategies necessary to reduce costs and increase revenues; it could free funds to provide services to patients, such as education and counseling support. The findings from this study could contribute to social change by adding new knowledge or informing the strategies to reduce medical no-shows. These findings may also benefit organizational worth and increase community health.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:waldenu.edu/oai:scholarworks.waldenu.edu:dissertations-5359 |
| Date | 01 January 2017 |
| Creators | Skym, Sophea Ey |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks |
| Source Sets | Walden University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies |
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