Local patients weren’t showing up to their appointments, so the hospital offered them a ride

The team at Cone has long known that many of their patients struggle to get to their daily radiation appointments. But a handful of years ago, they realized that struggle was not evenly distributed. On average, patients receiving treatment at the cancer center had an appointment no-show rate of about 3 percent. But, for patients who lived in two ZIP codes — which corresponded with a low-income, predominantly Black area of Greensboro — those patients had no-show rates between 12 and 15 percent.

First, Marquez’ team created a screening tool to ask patients, who lived in the two ZIP codes with high no-show rates, about their transportation needs before they began missing appointments: In the last month, did they have to go without healthcare because they didn’t have a ride? In the last year, did a lack of transportation keep them from medical appointments?