How to work out what a missed appointment costs your clinic
Multiply the number of missed appointments in a month by the share you could not refill and by the average value of a visit. That is the monthly cost. Staff time spent chasing is a second, smaller number.
The formula
Monthly cost = missed appointments × share not refilled × average value of a visit.
You need three numbers from your own clinic: how many booked patients did not come last month, how many of those slots stayed empty, and what an average visit brings in.
An example with made-up numbers
Say a clinic had 30 missed appointments last month, 20 of those slots stayed empty, and an average visit is worth $50. The cost is 20 × $50 = $1,000 for the month. These numbers are invented to show the arithmetic. Yours will differ, which is the reason to calculate it.
Why this matters more than admin hours
It is tempting to count the hours the front desk spends confirming appointments. In Lebanon that is usually the smaller number. The private-sector minimum wage was set at 28 million lira a month, about $312, from July 2025. At local salaries, a few saved hours are worth little. An empty chair is worth a full visit.
So measure the visits first. Staff time is worth adding only after you know the first number.
What to do with the number
If it is small, leave the workflow alone. If it is large, check whether your clinic software already sends confirmations and offers cancelled slots to a waiting list. If it does, switch that on. If it does not, this is a workflow worth assessing.