Corporate health insurance has a rarely mentioned but very real cost item: the booked but never cancelled appointment – known in the industry as a no-show. At first glance it seems trivial. In reality it hurts three times: the colleague, who gets a later appointment because of wasted capacity; the provider, whose consulting room stands empty; and the company, because sooner or later the insurer prices the programme's actual costs into the premium.
Why do appointments get missed?
Experience shows that no-shows are rarely about carelessness. The most common causes: a work conflict comes up (meeting, deadline); the long gap between booking and examination means it is simply forgotten; cancelling is cumbersome (you have to phone during opening hours); or the colleague doesn't know that cancelling is expected at all. In other words, the problem is process and communication – and therefore fixable.
Six tools that demonstrably help
- Reminders: most service organisers send an SMS or e-mail 24–48 hours before the examination. When contracting, ask whether this is a standard feature.
- One-click cancellation: if the reminder contains a single link to cancel or reschedule, no-shows drop dramatically.
- Stating the internal norm: one sentence in the benefits guide – “if you can't make it, cancel so another colleague can go” – makes a surprising difference.
- Calendar integration: if the booking lands automatically in the colleague's work calendar, conflicts surface at booking time.
- A flexible working-time rule: if the company states that attending screenings or medical appointments during working hours is fine, there will be fewer “I can't make it after all” cases.
- Measurement: ask for the no-show figure as part of the usage report. What gets measured gets better.
What level is acceptable?
Zero no-shows don't exist – illness and family emergencies will always happen. As a rule of thumb, below 5% the programme is working distinctly well; above 10% it is worth intervening with the tools above. The good news: no-show is typically the metric that can be visibly improved within a few months at little cost – and the improvement is an argument you can monetise at the anniversary premium negotiation.
If you would like to know the no-show rate in your current programme and what could be done about it, bring the reports to a 20-minute consultation.
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