| Abstract (english) | Purpose - In the dynamic world of health tourism, where more and more patients are travelling across different countries in search of healthcare and wellness services, missed appointments and unexpected cancellations, known as no-shows, have become a major challenge for this type of industry. These incidents affect the expansion of infrastructure, result in loss of revenue and negatively impact the waiting list and quality of care for other patients. This paper is an overview and review of 10 years of personal experience and different papers and articles that address these pressing health tourism challenges, their causes and possible solutions that could help minimise the number of no-shows. Therefore, the following hypothesis is put forward: H1 The integration of modern information and communication technology solutions can have a positive impact on the problem of patient no-shows and unexplained cancellations. Findings - Research shows that missed appointments and no-shows have multiple reasons, such as: “forgetfulness”, “transportation issues” and “time off work”. They also differ by type of health tourism, medical specialty, socioeconomic status, gender, age, place of residence, etc. Research also shows that no-shows cost the healthcare industry over 150 billion dollars annually. Design/methodology/approach - This paper reviews the existing literature and examines various tools, methods, strategies and techniques used to predict patient no-shows. It identifies the key factors that can help reduce the incidence of no-shows, optimise the scheduling process, and identify the current state of the art. It also describes ways to integrate advanced technologies such as patient management systems, mobile health apps, blockchain for secure data exchange and artificial intelligence (AI) for predictive analytics. Findings/Originality of the research – Correctly identifying whether scheduled patients will attend or miss their appointments allows clinics to strategically schedule patients, minimising the negative impact of patient no-shows. The number of patient no-shows in healthcare tourism and the constant search for solutions to minimise them demonstrate the difficulty of this problem and the need for further research. |
