Appointment No-Show Statistics 2026: Rates, Costs, Fixes
The average outpatient no-show rate is about 23%, pooled across 105 studies in a systematic review (Dantas et al., Health Policy, 2018). 32% of U.S. medical groups said no-shows were higher in 2026 than in 2025 (MGMA, 2026). Text reminders raise attendance about as much as phone calls, at lower cost per visit (Cochrane review, 2013). And the most-quoted number of all, $150 billion a year, comes from a vendor’s estimate, not a study (details below).
Below are no-show figures that trace to a published study, a platform dataset or a survey, each with its source, sample and year, plus the popular ones we couldn’t verify.
How to cite these statistics: link to this page and name the original source and year shown beside each number.
How common are no-shows in healthcare
23% is the average no-show rate across 105 studies in the largest systematic review of the topic, ranging from 13.2% in Oceania to 43.0% in Africa (Dantas, Fleck, Cyrino Oliveira and Hamacher, Health Policy, 2018). It’s a pooled average across very different clinics, so treat it as a range-setter rather than a benchmark for any one practice.
32% of U.S. medical groups reported higher patient no-show rates year to date in 2026 than in 2025, 58% about the same and 10% lower, in an August 11, 2026 poll with 190 responses (MGMA, 2026). The share reporting an increase rose 5 points from 2025.
27% of medical groups said no-shows had increased in 2025, while 60% said rates stayed the same and 13% said they fell, in an August 12, 2025 poll with 265 responses (MGMA, 2025).
27% of medical practice leaders named no-shows their top patient access priority for 2026, narrowly ahead of online scheduling (24%), phone access (22%) and wait times (21%), in MGMA’s December 2025 poll (MGMA, 2026).
5% of the roughly 307 million appointments booked in English general practice each year are missed without notice, about 15.4 million slots, 7.2 million of them with GPs (NHS England, 2019).
What no-shows cost
$196 was the average cost of a no-show per patient at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, in 2008 dollars, and no-shows across 10 of its clinics cost an estimated $14.58 million that fiscal year (Kheirkhah et al., BMC Health Services Research, 2016). The study covers one VA system, so it isn’t a national figure.
£216 million a year is what missed GP-practice appointments cost the NHS in England, at an average of £30 an appointment, and the 7.2 million missed GP slots add up to more than 1.2 million GP hours (NHS England, 2019).
$150 billion a year is the figure most often quoted for what missed appointments cost U.S. healthcare. It traces to the scheduling vendor SCI Solutions, whose chief marketing officer wrote that each unused slot costs a physician 60 minutes and $200 on average, with no-show rates “as high as 30%” (Healthcare Innovation, 2017). No published method backs it, so cite it as a vendor estimate if you use it at all.
What predicts a no-show
Lead time and past no-shows are the strongest predictors across the 105 studies in the Dantas review (2018): the longer the wait between booking and the visit, and the more often a patient has missed before, the likelier the next miss.
6.9% of sales demos booked for the same day were no-shows, against 23% for demos booked eight or more days out, in Reply.io’s analysis of 2,900 meetings booked with its own sales team. Next-day meetings no-showed 9.6% of the time and the overall average was 13.3%. It’s one company’s data, and it lines up with the lead-time effect in healthcare.
Do reminders reduce no-shows
14% more patients attend when they get text message reminders than when they get none (risk ratio 1.14, seven studies, 5,841 people), and text reminders work about as well as phone call reminders (risk ratio 0.99, three studies, 2,509 people) (Gurol-Urganci et al., Cochrane, 2013). Two of the studies found texts cost less per attended visit than phone calls.
16.3% to 15.8% was the drop in no-shows after the Houston VA introduced a centralized phone reminder system: a real reduction, but the rate stayed high (Kheirkhah et al., 2016). Reminders help most when they’re paired with an easy way to cancel or move the visit.
No-show fees and deposits
42% of medical group leaders said their practices charge a no-show fee, in a January 7, 2025 poll (MGMA, 2025).
0.80% of restaurant reservations that required no-show protection (a deposit or card hold) ended in a no-show, 1,907 of 238,539 at 327 restaurants, against 2.47% for reservations with no payment required (Resos, 2026, see below). Resos notes that restaurants requiring deposits differ from those that don’t, so it’s an association, not proof that deposits caused the drop.
20% fewer cancellations for businesses using its cancellation fees, according to the salon booking platform Booksy, based on its average usage data. It’s a vendor figure about cancellations, not no-shows.
Telehealth vs. in-person no-shows
0.61 is the odds ratio for missing a virtual appointment compared with an in-person one, pooled across 45 studies: patients were less likely to miss video or phone visits, though results varied widely between studies (Greenup and Best, BMC Health Services Research, 2025).
Restaurant no-shows
2.33% of restaurant reservations ended in a recorded no-show across 3,768,761 reservations at 2,417 restaurants between August 2025 and July 2026, which works out to about 36 no-shows a year for the average restaurant in the dataset (Resos No-Show Index, 2026). It’s measured from real booking outcomes, not a survey.
3.7% of advance restaurant reservations were no-shows and another 15% were cancelled, so nearly 1 in 5 booked tables never seated a guest, across reservations in the Bloom Intelligence network since January 2025 (Bloom Intelligence, 2026).
Popular no-show stats we couldn’t verify
- “Missed appointments cost U.S. healthcare $150 billion a year.” A vendor estimate with no published method (see above).
- “Deposits cut no-shows by 55%.” Repeated on scheduling blogs without a dataset behind it.
- “Text reminders cut no-shows by 29% to 39%.” Often attributed to unnamed studies. The Cochrane review above is the stronger source.
What to do about no-shows
The data points the same way across clinics, restaurants and sales teams: book sooner, remind by text, and make it easy to cancel or move. Carly does all three by your rules. It texts a confirmation the moment someone books and a reminder the day before from your own number, lets them reply to reschedule into an open slot, offers the freed slot to the next person, and answers calls and texts around the clock so new bookings land sooner (automated appointment reminders, client no-show follow-up). Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month.
FAQ
What is the average no-show rate?
About 23% for outpatient healthcare, pooled across 105 studies (Dantas et al., 2018), though individual clinics vary widely. Restaurants record far lower rates, 2.33% across 3.77 million reservations (Resos, 2026), and one sales team’s demos ran 13.3% (Reply.io).
How much do patient no-shows cost?
One U.S. study put the cost at $196 per no-show in 2008 dollars at a Houston VA center (Kheirkhah et al., 2016). In England, missed GP-practice appointments cost the NHS about £216 million a year (NHS England, 2019).
Do text reminders reduce no-shows?
Yes. A Cochrane review found text reminders raise attendance by about 14% compared with no reminder and work as well as phone calls, at lower cost (Gurol-Urganci et al., 2013).
Do deposits reduce no-shows?
In restaurant data, yes: reservations with a deposit or card hold no-showed 0.80% of the time against 2.47% without (Resos, 2026). In healthcare, 42% of medical groups charge a no-show fee (MGMA, 2025).
Is the $150 billion no-show figure real?
It’s a vendor estimate from SCI Solutions, built from about $200 per unused slot, with no published method. Cite it as an estimate, not a finding.
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