The no show rates for each time period and location are included in Table 1. Across all five subsites of our campus, there was a slight drop in the no-show rate after October 2018 that was not statistically significant (p = 0.495). In 2019, the no-show rates were generally much higher than the previous year, and there was again a slight drop in the no-show rate after October 2019. The decrease in 2018 was more significant than the previous year, but not very much so (p = 0.381).
Table 1
Location Analysis, using t-tests.
| 2018 (Televox implemented October 2018) | 2019 (no new policy change in October) |
| Pre-October | Post-October | | Pre-October | Post-October | |
| Average | SD | Average | SD | P-value | Average | SD | Average | SD | P value |
Total (all locations) | 1.384% | 0.50% | 1.379% | 0.48% | 0.495 | 5.596% | 0.93% | 5.414% | 0.64% | 0.381 |
Without Televox* | 1.332% | 0.27% | 2.182% | 1.52% | 0.173 | 1.204% | 1.61% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.116 |
With Televox* | 1.393% | 0.67% | 1.197% | 0.43% | 0.322 | 5.989% | 0.95% | 6.18% | 0.92% | 0.392 |
*The locations where Televox was implemented in October 2018 were DCAM, Mitchell, and Orland Park. Televox was not implemented at the remaining two locations: CCD and Comer. |
After October 2018 in the locations where Televox was not implemented, there was observed a slight increase in the no-show rate (increase of 0.85%), while there was a more notable decrease across the same time period in 2019 (from 1.2–0%). Neither change was found to be statistically significant (p = 0.173 and 0.116, respectively).
In the locations where Televox was implemented, there was a slight drop in the no-show rate in October 2018 (which would be expected with an effective reminder service), contrary to the concurrent increase in the other locations of the campus. This drop, however, was slight, and not statistically significant (p = 0.322). Across the same time period in 2019, there was an increase of about equal caliber, though the rates themselves were notably higher. The increase in no-show rate in locations with Televox was similarly not statistically significant (p = 0.392).
Presented in Table 2 are the results of the payment type analysis, including average no-show rates for each time period and payment type across all five campus locations. The changes in no-show rate pre- and post-October were largely not significant, with only one group showing a significant change: Medicaid patients in 2018 (p = 0.0381). In this group, the no-show rates declined by about half, from 2.80–1.39%. For Medicare patients in 2018, the rates also declined but not significantly, from 1.27–0.87%. These were the only two groups to decline in no show rate after the implementation of Televox in 2018. Groups of patients by other payment types, like Blue Cross/Blue Shield, private insurance, or self-pay, saw an increase in the no show rate over this time period.
Table 2
Payment Type Analysis, using t-tests.
| 2018 (Televox implemented October 2018) | 2019 (no new policy change in October) |
| Pre-October | Post-October | | Pre-October | Post-October | |
| Average | SD | Average | SD | P-value | Average | SD | Average | SD | P value |
Total | 1.384% | 0.50% | 1.379% | 0.48% | 0.4955 | 5.596% | 0.93% | 5.415% | 0.64% | 0.3809 |
Blue Cross/ Blue Shield | 0.882% | 0.52% | 1.543% | 0.73% | 0.9020 | 4.194% | 1.42% | 3.105% | 0.76% | 0.1195 |
Medicaid | 2.798% | 1.09% | 1.390% | 0.57% | 0.0381 | 10.87% | 2.93% | 8.618% | 1.03% | 0.1130 |
Medicare | 1.272% | 0.89% | 0.870% | 0.39% | 0.2271 | 4.691% | 0.87% | 5.666% | 1.24% | 0.8749 |
Private | 0.708% | 0.58% | 1.355% | 1.44% | 0.7735 | 3.237% | 1.98% | 4.078% | 1.25% | 0.7476 |
Self Pay | 1.786% | 3.57% | 20.83% | 25.0% | 0.8874 | 14.55% | 19.0% | 42.78% | 42.3% | 0.8561 |
The results of the contingency table analysis are presented in Table 3. For the experimental group (with Televox 2018), the appointment success and time period variables were found to be independent of one another, suggesting again that Televox implementation in October 2018 did not have a strong effect on whether patients showed up to their appointments. There was a significant difference (p = 0.024) for the group of locations without Televox in 2019, with 0 no shows after October, though the counts were very low before October as well. For the other control groups (with Televox 2019 and without Televox 2018), the appointment status and time period categorical variables were found to be independent as well.
Table 3
Location analysis using contingency tables and Fisher’s exact test: p-values.
| With Televox | Without Televox |
2018 | 0.54819 | 0.30153 |
2019 | 0.75971 | 0.02444 |