Becoming skilled with your schedule

I am in the process of reworking my patient schedule, and I have three goals for the new schedule:

1. I want to continue to offer timely customer service to my patients.
2. I want to improve patient access to appointments, especially if an acute problem requires a same-day/next-day visit.
3. I want to make my workday efficient and pleasant for my staff and myself.

“The Art of Patient Scheduling” proposes that a properly functioning schedule is one of the most critical features of a successful medical practice [1].  

Benefits of proper patient scheduling include:

• Maximizing productivity and revenue by maximizing efficiency and patient satisfaction.
• Reducing patient wait times, thus providing a positive patient experience.
• Improving office culture (something appreciated by the staff and your customers) [1].

“A Functioning Schedule Does Not Happen By Accident”

The authors describe 5 key actions when making changes to one’s patient schedule:

1. Understand your current schedule to identify bottlenecks and determine the time it takes to perform a specific medical service.
2. Template appointments by the length of time the visit requires and make sure the scheduling staff understands what appointments are brief, intermedial, or long.
3. Set realistic and attainable patient scheduling goals.
4. Confirm patient appointments 24-48 hours ahead of time to increase likelihood of “on-time arrivals.”
5. Maintain a “waiting list” of patients with future appointments, but also have a flexible schedule so that they may be called to come in early should there be a unexpected opening in the schedule; similarly, limit the number of schedulers allowed to override your schedule so as not to disrupt patient flow [1].

The authors conclude that the patient schedule should be monitored regularly and tweaked.

Are you satisfied with the flow of your patient schedule?  What tips do you have for me?

Nikki Rataj Casady, DMSc, PA-C

email@appcolleague.org