Gozio Blog

Patients Are Getting Lost in Hospitals: 12 Stats Show What That Costs

Written by Lea Chatham | May 18, 2023 3:16:20 PM

When patients get lost, it costs you. It impacts the overall patient experience AND it comes with a hard cost as well. From the time staff spend directing lost patients, to late arrivals and missed appointments, the expense adds up quickly. 

These twelve stats show what the true impact is when patients can’t physically navigate your health system.

  1. 67% of patients think it is very or extremely important to be able to find your way around a healthcare facility easily
  2. Navigational issues in hospitals cause stress and anxiety for the patients/visitors 
  3. More than 85% of patients ask for directions when they go to a hospital or other public health facility, and 30% of first-time visitors get lost
  4. One study showed that lost patients cost the organization $220,000 a year in labor costs 
  5. Staff took 1.5 minutes to tell patients directions and 5.3 minutes to actually take the lost person to where they needed to go 
  6. Staff members spent an average of 40 hours per year giving directions to patients and visitors
  7. 25% of of hospital staff members cannot find some destinations within their own campus 
  8. One study showed that about 30% of patients are late for appointments and the average no-show rate in healthcare continues to be 15-20%
  9. 40% of hospitals reported idle staff while waiting for late patients 
  10. One study found that hospitals using digital wayfinding solutions experienced a 25% reduction in missed appointments 
  11. 65% of patients said digital wayfinding improved their experience 
  12. 77% of visitors to hospitals say that digital wayfinding improves their experience. 

With staffing shortages, it is harder and harder to spend time walking patients to their destination. At the same time, missed and late appointments are costly. Missed appointments cost healthcare over $150B a year in lost revenue. Late arrivals put the schedule behind and impact the experience for staff and other patients.If you could reduce late or missed appointments by even a few percent, what would the impact be? If you could eliminate the lost productivity from directing patients, what would the impact be? 

You can find out what directing missing patients is costing you in this simple calculator, Lost Patients ROI Calculator.