# Medical practice phone statistics: missed calls, no shows, staffing and admin time, verified

> Every figure here traces to MGMA, the AMA, a federal agency or a peer reviewed journal, with its population and year. The popular missed call numbers did not survive that test, and we explain why.

Source: https://medphone.ai/blog/medical-practice-phone-statistics

Author: Agni Patel, MedPhone AI. Published 2026-10-23.

**The key verified medical practice phone statistics as of October 2026 are these: 45 percent of practice leaders name eligibility and prior authorization as the most time intensive phone task for staff (MGMA, March 2026), the average no show rate across 105 studies is about 23 percent (Health Policy, 2018), and prior authorization takes 13 hours of physician and staff time a week (AMA, 2025 survey). No peer reviewed or government source publishes a national rate of missed calls, abandoned calls or hold times at US medical practices, and the widely quoted missed call percentages do not trace to one.**

## Key facts

- In a March 10, 2026 MGMA Stat poll with 294 responses, 45 percent of practice leaders named eligibility and prior authorization as the most time intensive phone task for their staff.
- In the same March 2026 MGMA Stat poll, 31 percent of practice leaders named scheduling as the most time intensive phone task for their staff.
- The average patient no show rate across 105 studies worldwide is about 23 percent (Dantas et al., Health Policy, 2018).
- Prior authorization takes an average of 13 hours of physician and staff time a week, according to the AMA's 2025 survey of 1,000 physicians, released May 2026.
- 41.9 percent of physicians in the AMA Organizational Biopsy reported at least one burnout symptom in 2025 (AMA, April 2026).
- Physicians spent 49.2 percent of their office day on EHR and desk work in a time and motion study of 57 physicians (Sinsky et al., Annals of Internal Medicine, 2016).
- In a July 29, 2025 MGMA Stat poll with 244 responses, 71 percent of practices had fewer than 25 percent of patients self scheduling online.
- No peer reviewed or government national figure for missed calls, abandoned calls or hold times at US medical practices was found as of October 2026.

## How were these medical practice phone statistics chosen?

A figure made this page only if we could open the original source and read the number there: PubMed, MGMA, the AMA, the CDC, BLS or ASTP/ONC. MGMA Stat polls are quick single question polls of practice leaders, not random samples, so read them as what practice leaders report rather than as national rates.

## What are the statistics on missed calls and phone workload at medical practices?

There is no verified national missed call rate, abandonment rate or average hold time for US medical practices. What MGMA has published is how phones are answered and which phone work takes the most staff time.

| Figure | What it measures | Population | Year | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 45 percent | Named eligibility and prior authorization as the most time intensive phone task | Practice leaders, 294 responses | 2026 | MGMA Stat |
| 31 percent | Named scheduling as the most time intensive phone task | Practice leaders, 294 responses | 2026 | MGMA Stat |
| 52 percent | Said a staff member answers incoming calls | 1,334 respondents | 2017 | MGMA Stat |
| 42 percent | Said an automated phone tree answers incoming calls | 1,334 respondents | 2017 | MGMA Stat |

The figures quoted most often elsewhere, a missed call rate of around 23 percent, another of 42 percent during business hours, and claims about how many callers hang up after two minutes on hold, could not be traced to peer reviewed research, MGMA, the AMA or a government source. Some come from companies that sell phone products; others cite surveys we could not locate. We left them out. The 23 and 42 percent rates also disagree with each other, because they count different things as missed, over different hours, at different practices.

Related: [How many calls does a practice actually miss, and how to measure yours](https://medphone.ai/blog/how-many-calls-does-a-practice-miss)

## What are the statistics on patient no shows?

Published no show rates cluster around one in five appointments, and the most cited synthesis puts the average near 23 percent.

| Figure | What it measures | Population | Year | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| About 23 percent | Average no show rate | 105 studies, all specialties, worldwide | 2018 | Dantas et al., Health Policy |
| 18.8 percent | Mean no show rate | 10 main clinics at a VA medical center in Houston, fiscal years 1997 to 2008 | 2016 | Kheirkhah et al., BMC Health Services Research |
| $196 | Average cost of one no show, in 2008 dollars | Same VA medical center | 2016 | Kheirkhah et al. |
| 32 / 58 / 10 percent | Groups reporting higher / the same / lower no show rates than in 2025 | Practice leaders, 190 responses | 2026 | MGMA Stat |

In the same VA study, a centralized phone reminder moved the no show rate only from 16.3 to 15.8 percent. Making it easy to cancel or reschedule when a patient calls is the inbound side of the same problem.

## What are the statistics on front desk staffing and burnout?

Healthcare employs the largest share of US receptionists, and front office roles are a turnover hotspot.

| Figure | What it measures | Population | Year | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 947,500 | Receptionist jobs in the US | All industries | 2025 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook |
| 42 percent | Share of receptionists employed in healthcare and social assistance | US receptionists | 2025 | BLS |
| $38,010 | Median annual pay for receptionists; the median in healthcare and social assistance was $19.00 an hour | US receptionists | May 2025 | BLS |
| 29 percent | Practices reporting higher staff turnover than the year before; medical assistants and front office staff were the most cited hotspots | Practice leaders, 357 responses | 2025 | MGMA Stat |
| 45.6 percent | Health workers reporting burnout often or very often | US health workers, General Social Survey | 2022 | CDC, MMWR |
| 41.9 percent | Physicians with at least one burnout symptom (45 percent in family medicine) | Nearly 19,000 physicians in 106 health systems | 2025 | AMA Organizational Biopsy |

Two burnout figures for 2023 disagree, and both are sound. The AMA's Organizational Biopsy reported 48.2 percent; a national survey published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings reported 45.2 percent. The first samples participating health systems, the second physicians nationally, so quote each with its source rather than averaging them.

## What are the statistics on after hours access?

No current national dataset reports the share of practice calls that arrive after hours. The best evidence is about access: whether patients can reach their practice outside business hours, and what happens when they cannot.

| Figure | What it measures | Population | Year | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 40.2 percent | Patients whose practice offered extended hours, such as nights or weekends | People with a usual source of primary care, 2010 Health Tracking Household Survey | 2013 | O'Malley, Health Affairs |
| 1 in 5 | Found it difficult to reach a clinician after hours | Those who tried, same survey | 2013 | O'Malley, Health Affairs |
| 30.4 vs 37.7 percent | Had an emergency department visit: less vs more difficulty reaching a clinician after hours | Same survey | 2013 | O'Malley, Health Affairs |

The 15 to 20 percent after hours share that MedPhone uses in family medicine estimates is a planning assumption, not a measured national figure. Your phone system can report your own.

## How much time do physicians and staff spend on administrative work?

Roughly half of a physician's office day goes to the EHR and desk work, and prior authorization alone takes 13 hours of practice time a week.

| Figure | What it measures | Population | Year | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 49.2 / 27.0 percent | Office day on EHR and desk work / direct face time with patients | 57 physicians, 4 specialties, 430 hours observed | 2016 | Sinsky et al., Annals of Internal Medicine |
| 5.9 of 11.4 hours | Workday spent in the EHR; inbox management was 23.7 percent of that time | 142 family medicine physicians, Wisconsin | 2017 | Arndt et al., Annals of Family Medicine |
| 13 hours a week | Physician and staff time on prior authorization | 1,000 physicians | 2025 survey | AMA |

## What do patients prefer: the phone, the portal or online booking?

Portal use keeps rising, but online self scheduling is still a minority channel at most practices.

| Figure | What it measures | Population | Year | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 77 percent | Offered online access to their medical record by a provider or insurer | US adults, HINTS survey | 2024 | ASTP/ONC Data Brief 77 |
| 65 percent | Offered and accessed their online record or portal (25 percent in 2014) | US adults, HINTS survey | 2024 | ASTP/ONC |
| 71 percent | Practices where fewer than 25 percent of patients self schedule online (73 percent in November 2024) | Practice leaders, 244 responses | 2025 | MGMA Stat |

## First party data: MedPhone AI at Synergy Medical

This is MedPhone's own production data, not independent research, from Synergy Medical, a family medicine practice in Michigan on athenahealth, live with MedPhone AI since June 2026.

| Figure | What it measures | Type | Period |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| About 2,848 | Inbound calls handled by MedPhone AI | Measured | June to mid August 2026 |
| 53 percent | Calls resolved without reaching staff at launch | Measured | June 2026 |
| 65 to 75 percent | Calls resolved without reaching staff once the call flows were tuned | Reported range, case study | By mid August 2026 |
| 2 weeks | From signing to first live call | Measured | 2026 |
| 10 to 15 hours a week | Front desk time returned | Estimated | June to mid August 2026 |
| 40 to 53 a week | After hours calls answered that used to reach voicemail | Estimated, using the 15 to 20 percent assumption | June to mid August 2026 |

One practice in one specialty, so we do not extrapolate it to a national rate.

Related: [The Synergy Medical case study, measured and estimated](https://medphone.ai/case-studies/synergy-medical) · [What a good containment rate is, and why launch numbers run lower](https://medphone.ai/blog/what-is-a-good-containment-rate-for-an-ai-phone-agent)

## Why do published medical practice phone statistics disagree?

Most disagreements come from three causes, and none of them means one figure is false.

- Definitions. A missed call, a no show and burnout are each measured several ways. A no show rate that counts late cancellations will be higher than one that does not
- Populations. A VA medical center, 105 international studies and a poll of practice leaders measure different people, so do not blend their numbers
- Incentives. Many phone statistics in circulation are published by companies with a product to sell, which is why we kept so few of them

Use these figures to frame the question, then measure your own practice. A month of your phone system's call log, split by hour, says more about your missed calls and hold times than any statistic on this page.

[Estimate what missed calls cost your practice](https://medphone.ai/tools/missed-call-calculator)

Sources:
- [MGMA Stat, phone tasks that take the most staff time, March 2026](https://www.mgma.com/mgma-stat/phones-are-still-a-backlog-costing-medical-practices-time)
- [MGMA Stat, how practices answer incoming calls, March 2017](https://www.mgma.com/mgma-stats/practice-leaders-most-phone-calls-are-personally-answered)
- [MGMA Stat, no shows in 2026, August 2026](https://www.mgma.com/mgma-stat/about-1-in-3-medical-groups-see-higher-no-shows-in-2026-as-patients-face-higher-costs)
- [MGMA Stat, staff turnover, May 2025](https://www.mgma.com/mgma-stat/can-staff-turnover-continue-to-be-tamed-in-medical-practices-into-2026)
- [MGMA Stat, patient digital self scheduling, July 2025](https://www.mgma.com/mgma-stat/meeting-pressure-on-patient-digital-self-scheduling)
- [Dantas et al., no shows in appointment scheduling, Health Policy, 2018](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29482948/)
- [Kheirkhah et al., economic consequences of no shows, BMC Health Services Research, 2016](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26769153/)
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Receptionists](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/office-and-administrative-support/receptionists.htm)
- [Nigam et al., health worker working conditions, CDC MMWR, 2023](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7244e1.htm)
- [AMA, physician burnout rates are falling, April 2026](https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/ama-press-releases/ama-physician-burnout-rates-are-falling-specialty-gaps-remain)
- [Shanafelt et al., physician burnout 2011 to 2023, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2025](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40202475/)
- [O'Malley, after hours access to primary care, Health Affairs, 2013](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23242631/)
- [Sinsky et al., allocation of physician time, Annals of Internal Medicine, 2016](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27595430/)
- [Arndt et al., Tethered to the EHR, Annals of Family Medicine, 2017](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28893811/)
- [AMA, 2025 Prior Authorization Physician Survey, May 2026](https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/ama-press-releases/ama-survey-prior-authorization-reform-pledge-falls-short-physicians)
- [ASTP/ONC Data Brief 77, patient portal access and use, 2024](https://healthit.gov/data/data-briefs/individuals-access-and-use-patient-portals-and-smartphone-health-apps-2024/)

## Questions people ask

### What percentage of calls do medical practices miss?

No peer reviewed or government source publishes a national missed call rate for US medical practices, as of October 2026. Commonly quoted figures of around 23 percent and 42 percent do not trace to such a source, and they define a missed call differently. The reliable way to know is to count, in a month of your own call log, the calls that ended without reaching a person.

### How long are patients on hold when they call a doctors office?

No verified national figure exists for hold times at US medical practices, as of October 2026. Claims about how long callers wait before hanging up could not be traced to peer reviewed or government research. A practice can get its own figure from its phone system's queue report, split by hour of the day.

### What is the average patient no show rate?

The average patient no show rate across 105 studies is about 23 percent, according to a 2018 systematic review in Health Policy, with wide variation by region and specialty. In an August 2026 MGMA Stat poll, 32 percent of medical groups reported higher no show rates than in 2025.

### Which phone tasks take the most front desk time?

Eligibility and prior authorization take the most front desk phone time, named by 45 percent of practice leaders in a March 2026 MGMA Stat poll of 294 respondents. Scheduling came second at 31 percent, then intake at 9 percent and refills at 6 percent.

### How much time do doctors spend on administrative work?

Physicians spent 49.2 percent of their office day on EHR and desk work and 27.0 percent with patients, in a 2016 time and motion study in Annals of Internal Medicine. Prior authorization adds about 13 hours of physician and staff time a week, according to the AMA's 2025 survey.

### Do patients still book appointments by phone?

Most practices still book most appointments by phone. A July 2025 MGMA Stat poll found 71 percent of practices have fewer than a quarter of patients self scheduling online, even though 65 percent of US adults accessed a patient portal or online record in 2024, according to ASTP/ONC.