Infusion No-Show Cost Calculator
Estimate what no-shows and same-day cancels cost you a year in lost margin and wasted drug.
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$319,410 a year: $221,130 lost margin and $98,280 drug waste.
Cost of missed appointments a year
$319,410
from 655 missed appointments, 9% of the schedule
- Missed appointments a year
- 655
- Refilled the same day
- 164
- Lost appointments a year
- 491
- Lost margin a year
- $221,130
- Drug waste a year
- $98,280
An estimate, not a forecast. It assumes a 52-week year and that a lost appointment is not made up later. Free, and nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
How to use it
- Enter your scheduled appointments a week, no-show rate, same-day cancel rate, and the share of missed slots you refill that day.
- Enter your net margin per infusion and the average drug waste per missed visit.
- Read the yearly cost of missed appointments, split into lost margin and drug waste.
How the numbers work
- Missed a week = scheduled × (no-show rate + same-day cancel rate), capped at 100%
- Lost a week = missed × (1 − share refilled the same day)
- Lost appointments a year = lost a week × 52
- Lost margin = lost appointments a year × margin per infusion
- Drug waste = missed a week × 52 × waste per missed visit. Refilling the slot does not save drug already mixed for the patient who missed.
- Total = lost margin + drug waste
With the example values: 140 × 9% = 12.6 missed a week. 25% are refilled, leaving 9.45 lost a week, or 491 a year × $450 = $221,130. Waste is 655 missed a year × $150 = $98,280, for $319,410 in total.
Before you trust the result
- Some misses are rescheduled, not lost. If the patient comes in later that week, the margin moves rather than disappears. Count only treatments that are never given.
- Waste depends on when you mix. Drug mixed after the patient arrives is rarely wasted. Use your own record of discarded doses, not a guess.
- Define no-show and same-day cancel the same way every month. If staff mark them differently, the rates move without anything changing on the floor.
Questions
How do you calculate the cost of an infusion no-show?
Count missed appointments a week from the no-show and same-day cancel rates, take out the slots you refill that day, and multiply the rest by 52 and your margin per infusion. Then add drug waste for every missed visit, since refilling the slot does not save drug already mixed.
What is the difference between a no-show and a same-day cancel?
In this calculator, a no-show is a patient who does not come and does not call. A same-day cancel is an appointment cancelled on the day. Both leave a chair empty unless you refill it, so both count as missed.
What is a typical no-show rate for an infusion center?
There is no single benchmark that fits every center, because payer mix, drug mix, and how staff mark appointments all move the rate. Pull your own rate from appointment statuses, define it the same way every month, and use that as your baseline.
Does refilling a missed slot save the drug?
No. Drug mixed for the patient who missed usually cannot be used, so the waste stays even when another patient takes the chair. Mixing after the patient arrives is what keeps waste low.
Is every missed infusion lost revenue?
No. If the patient comes in later that week, the margin moves rather than disappears. Count only treatments that are never given when you enter your rates.
Where the definitions come from
No-show rate, same-day cancellation rate, and scheduled vs completed are defined in the infusion center KPI glossary. The WeInfuse reporting guide covers which appointment statuses to count.
Related tools
Want this from your own data?
Your appointment statuses and drug records already show who missed and what was discarded. We build that report by site, weekday and drug.