Have you had a hard time getting an appointment at the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation? It might be because someone didn’t show up for their appointment. YKHC is trying to spread the word that cancelling an appointment beforehand means someone else can be seen.
“Over the past three months, which is September, October, and November, 1,507 people did not come to their appointment,” said Dawn Hackney, YKHC’s Director of Ambulatory.
That’s a 19 percent no-show rate. That means almost one in five people did not show up for their appointment.
On average, it takes two weeks to book an appointment with your usual YKHC health care provider.
If you need immediate care, you can get an appointment with a traveling provider, but the hospital prefers you see the same Bethel-based provider consistently.
“Our goal is to take the best care of you possible,” Hackney said, “and in order to do that, [you need] to see the same doctor. Because that doctor not only gets to know you, they get to know your family issues.”
When someone doesn’t show up for an appointment, that’s a spot that could have been filled by someone else, sometimes someone close to home.
“You may not realize that if you do call to cancel that appointment, it may be your mom who needed that appointment. It might have been your sister-in-law or your grandmother,” Hackney said.
There are several ways to cancel. You can call the hospital at 907-543-6442, or when you get your reminder call the day before your appointment, you can cancel then. To do that, you need a working number. If you need to update your phone information, you can call 907-543-6315.
YKHC is hiring more providers to increase the number of patients that can be seen. Next year, two family practice doctors, one pediatric nurse practitioner, and one family practice nurse practitioner will be joining YKHC as Bethel-based staff. The additions will add 64 appointments per day.
