Fixing
Scheduling Problems
Is your practice experiencing too many no-shows and backups? Do new patients
wait too long for appointments? If so, you may want to reconsider your
scheduling methods.
Conventional scheduling in uniform segments, for example, creates physician
downtime whenever patients don’t appear or are late. Double-booking some
periods during the day offers insurance against downtime but risks backups
on days when few patients are no-shows.
Countering No-Shows
“Wave” scheduling—slotting
all of each hour’s patients together at the start of the hour—is
one possibility for working around no-shows. Backups and downtime are
minimized, but if you overschedule some time slots, many patients will
experience long waits. And others won’t be seen for almost an hour after
their scheduled appointment time or even longer if the day’s schedule backs
up.
To reduce the waiting, you might schedule just a few patients at the start
of each hour and fill out the hour with standard-length appointments.
Open-Access Variations
If fitting acute-need patients into your schedule causes backups or new
patients wait many weeks before being seen, some form of open-access
scheduling may help. You might simply reserve some appointments each day for
patients needing acute care and for new patients, varying the number of
slots as experience dictates. Or you might eliminate advance appointments and schedule
all patients to be seen on the day they call or the following day, using a
uniform segment or wave method.
Many offices with open-access scheduling hold back a portion of each day (or
certain days each week) for advance appointments. This facilitates handling
follow-ups and physicals.
No one scheduling method is best for every practice. Analyzing your
situation and perhaps testing some variations may lead to a more efficient
use of your physicians’ office time.
Please contact a member of our Health Care Team if you would like to discuss this topic further.
Health Care Commentaries is
provided by Somerset’s
Health Care Team
for our clients and other interested persons upon request. Since
technical information is presented in generalized fashion, no final
conclusion on these topics should be made without further review. For
additional information on the issues discussed, please contact a member
of our Health Care Team. This
document is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for
the purpose of avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed on the
taxpayer.
Somerset CPAs,
P.C.
3925 River Crossing Parkway, Third Floor
Indianapolis, Indiana 46240
317.472.2200 • 800.469.7206 • FAX 317.208.1200
http://healthcare.somersetcpas.com
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