When Dr. Stephen Gutu opened his pediatric neurology practice in Iowa, he built telehealth into his care model from the start. Iowa winters can make in-person visits a nightmare at times, and he also has several patients who were from out of state.

Instead of losing revenue due to these reasons, he chose to adopt telehealth and offer virtual sessions. It was one of the reasons his no-show rate dropped to almost zero — allowing him to deliver remote care to ~20 patients each month who would’ve otherwise missed their care.

Dr. Gutu’s story is just one example that reflects a broader trend in medical practices today. Offering telehealth services is an excellent way to improve appointment adherence today.

In a 2026 Tebra survey of 3,196 patients and 129 providers, 57% reported receiving the same level of care via telehealth as in person. But only 40% of providers feel they’re delivering that same quality. When patients prefer this option and have confidence in it, it’s time for practices to catch up.

In this guide, we’ll explain how you can reduce no-shows with telehealth and offer better patient experiences.

The short answer: yes, telehealth does reduce no-show rates. And many studies back this up.

A 2025 meta-analysis of 45 studies in BMC Health Services Research found that telehealth patients were significantly less likely to miss appointments than in-person patients. In the same vein, a separate analysis of nearly 2 million encounters across 9 specialties in npj Digital Medicine found that telehealth cut the odds of a no-show by 72%.

But what does that really look like in an independent practice? In a 2026 Tebra survey of 129 healthcare providers, 87% said they hadn’t noticed more cancellations in telehealth than in in-person visits. Even though Tebra’s patient survey found that 34% of patients feel more likely to cancel a telehealth visit, that doesn’t hold up on the provider’s side.

That said, patients tend to trust telehealth services as much as in-person services. Tebra’s survey found that 57% of patients report receiving the same level of care. So, it’s definitely something you should consider implementing today.

Tip: If you’re not sure about no-show rates, start by tracking them by modality so you can see how telehealth actually performs in your practice.

Let’s look at what’s driving no-shows and how telehealth solves these issues:

In a 2026 Tebra survey of 3,196 patients, 47% canceled a medical appointment in the past 12 months. In fact, 16% didn’t show up at all without canceling. If you ask providers why this happens, the answer seems obvious. In a 2026 Tebra survey of 129 healthcare providers, 81% said forgetting was the top reason patients missed appointments.

But patients do this for different reasons. We found that the top reasons for canceling include:

Take a good look, and you’ll notice what’s missing from the top of that list: forgetting.

When you try to rectify no-shows based on assumptions, you’ll treat the wrong problems. When your patient can’t leave work at 2 PM on a workday, another SMS reminder won’t change the outcome. The real reasons are logistical — not behavioral.

Look at why patients choose telehealth, and you’ll see the mirror image of why they miss in-person visits. In the same 2026 State of No-shows survey, patients listed the following reasons for choosing telehealth:

They’re essentially listing the same reasons for missing appointments. Telehealth addresses these logistical barriers by ensuring patients have a practical alternative to missing an appointment. The patient who can’t leave work or drive 40 minutes in the snow can switch to a virtual visit instead of canceling entirely.

Plus, if they miss an appointment and can’t reschedule, that’s another problem to solve. Seventy-seven percent of patients still call the office to cancel or reschedule. Of those, 36% can only call during work hours, and 24% sit through long hold times.

If you pair online scheduling capabilities with telehealth offerings, you’re more likely to fill that time slot and recover the lost revenue.

Here are five reasons you should adopt telehealth in your practice:

You don’t need to convert every appointment to telehealth. Just start with the visit types that your patients already feel comfortable doing virtually. Here are the most preferred types of visits for telehealth according to Tebra’s patient survey:

For example, a test review doesn’t require a full-body checkup or similar. You can easily schedule that as a telehealth visit, as it’ll save both parties time.

When you do offer telehealth services, you can expect operational improvements, too. For instance, Tebra’s provider survey reported that 41% of providers report shorter wait times for new appointments, while 40% see more geographically diverse patients. It opens up a broader customer base, which is why 26% of providers report an increase in revenue through telehealth.

Tip: Use a connected EHR platform like Tebra to offer telehealth services. It brings all your scheduling, billing, and communication workflows into one space, making it easier for patients and providers to maintain continuity of patient care.

In Tebra’s survey, we also found that 56% of patients say additional reminders — whether by email or phone — would make them more likely to show up or reschedule. A 2026 meta-analysis of 10 RCTs specifically reported that SMS reminders improved attendance by 14%.

But what you put in the reminder matters just as much. In the Tebra patient survey, patients say they want:

That last point is especially relevant for telehealth services. When a patient receives a reminder that includes what to expect, it directly reduces uncertainty and gives them a clear reason to show up.

You can use a platform like Tebra to send reminders that can go out at different periods before the appointment. Your front desk doesn’t have to lift a finger for something as simple as this — and it’ll reduce your no-show rate. 

In a 2026 Tebra survey of 3,196 patients, 69% say they’d be more likely to show up if they could reschedule online without calling. Yet 77% still pick up the phone to do it. It’s an opportunity to recover that revenue — but only if you use the right tools.

In the same survey, 67% of providers who implemented online scheduling report reduced no-show rates. Not just that, if you add a one-tap rescheduling or canceling link, it works in your favor. Tebra’s survey found that 40% of patients say they’d reschedule instead of missing the visit if it includes a link. Only 11% say they’d cancel at the last minute. That’s a 4-to-1 ratio that tilts in your favor.

In short: it’s clear that giving the option to reschedule helps you in the long run.

And if patients can’t make it in person, they actively choose telehealth services as an alternative, according to 51% of patients in Tebra’s survey. It’s a no-brainer that telehealth is a recovery tactic for independent practices.

If you make a patient wait too long for a visit, they’re more likely to miss it. In fact, a study published in Quality Management in Health Care showed that appointments booked 30 or more days out had a 47% no-show rate compared to 23% for those booked within 30 days. It usually happens due to provider availability or logistical constraints.

So give your patients the option to meet at their convenience. Tebra’s 2026 patient-side survey found that 39% say they choose telehealth specifically to accept a last-minute appointment.

It’s clear that telehealth compresses the booking-to-visit window because it removes constraints like:

In a 2026 Tebra survey of 129 healthcare providers, 82% say they’d support flexible scheduling policies based on patient history rather than blanket rules. While most providers want this flexibility, only 12% actually segment reminder timing based on patient history today.

But the worst part is that only 19% always or often know why a patient no-showed.

You can fix that by doing the following:

It’ll help you scale the process in a more realistic and data-backed way.

Tip: You can use Tebra’s no-show calculation guide to find your no-show rate and then use the free no-show risk calculator to identify the highest revenue per segment.

Here’s a list of visit types or situations where you can either use or avoid telehealth altogether:

In 2026, 81% of providers already offered telehealth as part of their practice’s service modalities, according to Tebra’s provider-side survey. And 60% of patients have tried it. Here’s a list of visit types where patients prefer these telehealth appointments:

Here are a few considerations you should have in mind to avoid high no-shows or cancellations:

While telehealth is a great retention tactic, it also significantly improves the patient experience.

In Tebra’s 2026 patient-side survey, we found that:

When providers and patients have successfully adopted it, it shows that telehealth offers a good patient experience.

It also removes logistical barriers. Tebra’s survey points out that 62% say anything over 30 minutes is too long to wait in a physical waiting room. And in the same survey, 70% say they’d opt into a virtual waiting room (telehealth).

These things add up over time. If a patient can skip the commute and spend less time waiting for you, it feels like it’s less of a burden. The best part is that it directly improves patient satisfaction, which drives higher retention and referral rates.

Dr. Gutu didn’t reduce his no-show rate to almost zero by sending more reminders. Instead, he gave his patients a way to access care that worked with their lives. By being patient-centric and making virtual visits a viable alternative, he empowered patients who would’ve experienced gaps in their care.

That’s why telehealth services have become mainstream today. If you combine it with systems like automated reminders, rescheduling links, and online scheduling, it’s a sure-shot way to win back patients.

If you’re interested in exploring a connected EHR that comes with all these capabilities, explore Tebra telehealth today.

Patient findings come from a Tebra survey of 3,196 U.S. adults aged 18 and over, fielded first on July 20, 2023, with the most recent fielding on February 12, 2026. Data was weighted to the U.S. population by 9 demographic questions. The credibility interval for questions answered by all respondents is ±3 percentage points.

Provider findings come from a Tebra survey of 473 healthcare providers who personally see patients, fielded first on July 21, 2023, with the most recent fielding on February 9, 2026. Responses were not weighted. The 2026 base is 129 respondents, 14% of whom identified mental health as their specialty.