No-show rates by specialty

Published no-show rates for the specialties we cover range from about 4% (vendor data for dental and med spa practices) to above 20% (academic audiology and eye clinics). A 2018 systematic review of 105 studies put the average across healthcare at roughly 23%. Most published figures come from academic or hospital settings, so treat them as reference points, not targets, and measure your own rate with a consistent definition.

Every number on this page links to its source. Where we could not find a reliable published figure for a specialty or setting, we say so and explain how to measure it yourself. Sources were last checked on October 7, 2026.

The big picture

The most widely cited overview is a systematic literature review by Dantas and colleagues, published in Health Policy in 2018. It included 105 studies and reported an average no-show rate of roughly 23%, with the highest regional average in Africa (43.0%) and the lowest in Oceania (13.2%).

That average mixes many countries, specialties, and settings. For an independent US practice, the specialty-specific figures below are more useful, with the caveats noted for each.

Published rates by specialty

Specialty	Published rate	Setting and period	Source
Audiology	24.3%	Pediatric appointments, university tertiary audiology practice, Kentucky, 2015 to 2017 (7,784 appointments)	Adkins et al., Otology & Neurotology, 2023
ENT	8.3%	Hospital-employed otolaryngology practice, 2012 to 2014 (5,817 visits)	Comer et al., Ear, Nose & Throat Journal, 2019
ENT	8.9% no-show; 18.3% including late cancellations	Academic otolaryngology practice, Illinois, 2019 to 2021 (121,347 visits)	Yuhan et al., Cureus, 2024
Dental	4% average; under 1% for the top 10%	Vendor benchmark of dental practices with 1 to 7 locations	Henry Schein One, 2026 Catalyst Index (vendor research)
Orthodontics	12.3%	University orthodontic clinic, Virginia, last appointment of 538 active patients over 6 weeks	Lindauer et al., Angle Orthodontist, 2009
Med spa	4% in 2025, down from 5%	Vendor data across medspa locations in North America, calendar year 2025	Zenoti, 2026 Benchmark Report, Medspa Edition (vendor research)
Eye care	6.6% faculty clinic; 21.7% resident clinic	Academic ophthalmology clinic, 12 months (51,529 visits)	McMullen and Netland, Clinical Ophthalmology, 2015
Physical therapy	10.4% mean; 7.81% private clinics vs. 14.53% hospital-campus clinics	National survey of US outpatient physical therapists (634 reported rates)	Bokinskie, Johnson, and Mahoney, UNLV DPT dissertation, 2015

What the numbers do and do not tell you

Audiology. The only peer-reviewed audiology-specific figure we could verify is pediatric and from a university setting. We did not find a reliable published no-show rate for adult patients in independent audiology practices. Measure your own using the method below.

ENT. The two studies show why definitions matter. The Illinois practice reported a no-show rate of 8.9%, but nonattendance climbed to 18.3% once late cancellations were counted.

Dental. The most current figure comes from a practice software vendor’s benchmark, not a peer-reviewed study, and the vendor does not publish its full methodology on that page. It is still useful as a reference for private practices, which are underrepresented in academic research.

Orthodontics. The same study found that patients with current accounts missed 10.5% of appointments, compared with 33.3% for overdue accounts, and that 30% of patients who missed an appointment also missed the next one. Financial follow-up and attendance follow-up are connected.

Med spa. Vendor data only. The same source reports a 14% cancellation rate for 2025, which matters more than no-shows for many spas.

Eye care. The study is ophthalmology, not optometry, and we did not find a reliable optometry-specific figure. Its most practical finding is about scheduling lead time: in the faculty clinic, no-shows were 2.4% for appointments booked 0 to 2 weeks out and 6.9% for appointments booked 6 months out. In the resident clinic, the same rates were 9.1% and 38.3%.

Physical therapy. Per-visit rates and per-patient rates are different measures. A 2021 PLOS ONE study of 444,995 patients at a large commercial PT provider found that 73% of patients missed at least one appointment during their episode of care. That is not a per-visit rate, but it shows how common a single missed visit is over a full plan of care.

How to measure your own no-show rate

Use one definition and stick to it:

• No-show rate = appointments where the patient did not arrive and did not cancel, divided by all scheduled appointments, for the month.
• Late cancellation rate = cancellations inside your policy window (for example, 24 hours), divided by all scheduled appointments.
• Nonattendance rate = no-shows plus late cancellations, divided by all scheduled appointments.

Exclude appointments the practice cancelled. Break each rate down by appointment type (new patient, follow-up, recall), provider, day of week, and lead time. The breakdowns tell you where to act.

Measurement timeline

Templates

Benchmarks only help if they lead to action. These two templates are the fastest way to move your rate.

Hi [First name], this is [Practice name] confirming your appointment on [Day] at [Time]. Reply C to confirm or call [Phone] to reschedule.

Subject: No-show report for [Month]

Team,

Here are our attendance numbers for [Month]:

• No-show rate: [X]% (3-month average: [Y]%)
• Late cancellation rate: [X]%
• Highest by appointment type: [Type] at [X]%
• Highest by lead time: appointments booked [X] weeks out at [X]%

This month’s focus: [one specific change, such as calling unconfirmed new patients the day before].

[Your name]

Keep internal reports to aggregate numbers. Do not list patient names in email summaries.

What to measure

• No-show, late cancellation, and nonattendance rates, monthly and as a rolling three-month average.
• Rates by appointment type, since new patient and recall visits often behave differently.
• Rates by lead time, because the eye care study above found a strong link between booking further out and missing the visit.
• Same-day rebook rate after a no-show, using our missed-appointment text templates.
• Fill rate for openings left by cancellations; see filling cancellations from a waitlist.

To turn your rate into dollars, use our no-show cost calculator. For recall-related benchmarks, see patient recall rate benchmarks.