No-show cost calculator
This calculator works out what missed appointments cost your practice each week, month and year. Enter your visits per week, your no-show rate, your average visit value and how many no-shows rebook. Then choose how much reminders might cut your no-shows to see the revenue you would keep.
The numbers below are examples to show how the tool works, not benchmarks. Replace them with your own. Use practice totals only, never patient details.
Revenue lost to no-shows each year
$37,440
- Per week: $720 (3.6 visits not made up)
- Per month: $3,120
- Per year: $37,440 (187.2 visits)
Cutting no-shows by 30% takes your rate from 12% to 8.4%. You would keep $216 a week, $936 a month or $11,232 a year.
How the numbers are worked out
A no-show only costs you money if the visit is never made up. So the calculator removes the share of no-shows who rebook and attend.
- No-shows per week = visits per week × no-show rate.
- Visits lost per week = no-shows per week × (100% − rebook %).
- Revenue lost per week = visits lost per week × average visit value.
- Per month = weekly figure × 52 ÷ 12. Per year = weekly figure × 52.
- New no-show rate = no-show rate × (100% − the cut you choose).
- Revenue kept = revenue lost today − revenue lost at the new rate.
Worked example
A practice books 40 visits a week with a 12% no-show rate, so 4.8 visits are missed. A quarter of those patients rebook and attend, which leaves 3.6 visits lost. At $200 a visit, that is $720 a week, $3,120 a month and $37,440 a year.
If reminders cut no-shows by 30%, the rate drops from 12% to 8.4%. Lost visits fall to 2.52 a week, or $504. The practice keeps $216 a week, which is $11,232 a year.
The cut you choose is your own estimate, not a promise of what reminders will do. Start with a modest figure and check it against your calendar after a month.
Common questions
Should late cancellations count as no-shows?
Count them if the slot usually goes unfilled. A cancellation an hour before the visit costs the same as a no-show when no one else can take the time.
What counts as the visit value?
Use what the visit brings in on average. For a paid consult, that is the consult fee. For program follow-ups that are already paid for, use the value of the time you could have given another patient.
Why does the rebook rate matter?
A patient who misses a visit and rebooks the next week has not cost you that visit's revenue, only the empty slot. Leaving rebooks out makes the loss look bigger than it is.
Is anything you enter saved or sent?
No. The calculator runs in your browser and nothing you type leaves the page. It asks for practice totals only, so no patient information is involved.