Offering transportation services to economically disadvantaged patients at a family health center: a case study

Jia Guo, Jonathan F. Bard, Douglas J. Morrice, Carlos R. Jaén and Ramin Poursani

Health Systems, 2022, vol. 11, issue 4, 251-275

Abstract: It has been established that high no-show rates of publicly supported health systems in economically depressed areas are largely due to a lack of inexpensive, reliable transportation. The purpose of this paper is to determine the financial feasibility of offering transportation and investigate the net cost savings by reducing no-show rates. The approach starts with a data analysis on 636 patients at the Family Health Center (FHC) in San Antonio, Texas, followed by logistic regression to determine the impact of various transportation factors on cancellations/no-shows and late arrivals. We then investigate the costs savings that could be realised by reducing the no-show rate from 24.3% by up to 60%. Finally, we analyse the expenses that would be incurred should the FHC provide transportation. The full analysis indicates a cost reduction of more than $15,000 per month can be achieved when the no-show rate is reduced by 25% down to 18.2%.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1080/20476965.2021.1936658

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