What are barriers to care?
Barriers to care, which can also be social determinants of health (SDoH), include unpredictable work schedule, lack of transportation, and food insecurity. Patients that regularly no show often to do so for the same reason, with that reason being their barrier to care.
What are practices doing today to identify and address barriers to care?
- 27% of practices do not track or ask
- 42% reactively record in notes whenever a patient discusses it
- 24% proactively track in a structured way
- 6% proactively track in a structured way and also receive support from an external organization
What is the most effective strategy?
Proactively tracking in a structured way is the most effective strategy, and for some - particularly with those with limited in-house bandwidth - working with an external organization can also be helpful.
Key reasons
- Patients that frequently no show often do so for the same reason (e.g., transportation)
- Staff/provider time is constrained so determination can be difficult
- Working with an external organization can allow practice to act on determined barrier