Cost of physiotherapy non-attendance at a metropolitan hospital in Australia: A time-driven activity-based costing study
Non-attendance rates at participating clinics were at the lower end of values reported in prior literature; however, substantial healthcare resource waste was still evident. Findings highlighted the extent to which non-attendance at scheduled clinic appointments may not only impact patients' welfare through lost treatment opportunity, but also carry substantial opportunity cost from wasted hospital resources that could have been allocated to other referred patients. Establishing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of interventions to reduce non-attendance remains a priority.
Authors
- Hannah Carter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0046-4126)
- Shayma Mohammed Selim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0120-6559)
- Sanjeewa Kularatna (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5650-154X)
- Steven McPhail (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1463-662X)
- Codie Armstrong
- Sabina Borg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1771-1047)
- Sundresan Naicker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2392-4981)
- Melanie Walkenhorst
- Brittney Kunst
Institutions
- Queensland University of Technology (AU)
- Logan Hospital (AU)
- Metro South Health (AU)
- Duke-NUS Medical School (SG)
- Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- BMJ Open
- Published
- 2025-05-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-083420
- Primary Topic
- Healthcare Operations and Scheduling Optimization
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Health and Medical Research Council