PHA "no shows" costs Sheppard, results in action

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Candy Miller
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  More than 1,000 patients have declined to attend their preventative health assessment at the 82nd Medical group in the past six months, resulting in actions to ensure Sheppard is preparing and approving the deployment of personnel. 

That might not seem like much given the active duty military population of Sheppard. But, it cost Sheppard $46,893. Because of the rash of unattended appointments, the clinic recently started sending "no show" letters to commanders. 

Maj. Lauren Aase, family nurse practitioner, said the clinic sends out an e-mail to patients to remind them of the appointments and also requirements that must be met before their scheduled doctor's visit. 

"Another problem is when they do show up, they haven't completed the questionnaire or labs (mentioned) in the e-mail," he said. "We can't complete the assessment without those completed." 

He said the questionnaire and lab tests are to be done before the appointment so the doctor can review them and look for changes in the medical records. Call-back labs, rescheduled appointments and 16.5 work days created 150 additional man hours have resulted in the missed assessments. 

"We try to get as much of the PHA done while patients are at the appointment," Major Aase said. "We've been able to keep up 98-to-99 percent completion of PHAs, but it's not the most efficient way when the PHAs aren't completed at the appointment." 

PHAs are annual physical assessments to determine if personnel are qualified for deployments, assess cardiovascular status for physical training performance and to assess general physical health.