Virtual visit no-show rate is the percentage of scheduled telehealth appointments where the patient fails to appear or connect within the appointment window.

No-shows are the silent killer of telehealth unit economics. Unlike in-person practices where a missed appointment might be partially recaptured through walk-ins, an empty telehealth slot is pure waste—provider time paid for, zero revenue collected.

The typical telehealth no-show rate runs 20-30%, roughly double the 10-15% seen in traditional practices. Contributing factors include lower perceived commitment (no travel investment), competing distractions at home, and technical anxiety. The good news: these are solvable problems.

Effective interventions include SMS reminders 24 hours and 1 hour before appointments, pre-visit technical checks, and overbooking models calibrated to historical no-show patterns. Some organizations charge no-show fees, though this can backfire with patient satisfaction and is harder to enforce for telehealth.

Related terms: Appointment completion rate, Patient acquisition cost, Provider utilization rate