How can you ensure appointments are scheduled efficiently?

The fee for service paradigm for scheduling appointments will evolve in value based care - especially value based care where whole person risk is the key leading metric to reduce future morbidity and costs. In addition the CPT coding guidelines go away when prepayment for care no longer requires their use. Finally, face to face care is not the most efficient and effective mode for many interactions. Proactive engagement, calling in those with higher risk, handling those with lower risk less traditionally all lead to better, more effective care. It is time to expand our way of thinking from sending cpt/icd10 codes to actually improving patient health and reducing health risk.

100% of our appointments are scheduled using a “slot finder” which matches the triaged reason for visit with allowable times that those kind of appointments can be book. A slot may be open for more than one type of appointment/encounter, but they aren’t available for just any type of visit. Our PMS/EHR finds and lists available slots that match the patient’s needs. There is some flexibility same day for urgent care issues, but for more than 1 day in advance, things are very planned out and insure that we stay on schedule, every day.

When assessing the needs of your practice, it's important to balance the needs of the business with the capabilities and wants of the provider. For example: -You need to ensure that the schedule you build meets the needs of the business by not only covering expenses, but being productive -You need to ensure that the schedule you build doesn't surpass the capabilities of your providers [if they can't keep up, patients won't be satisfied and you won't be able to stay productive] -Lastly, you need to ensure that the schedule you build meets the needs of your patients and the community. [If you are under scheduling and limiting access, this will increase wait times and will ultimately lead to patient frustration]

Assess - Time slot per patient, approx How many hours per day how many days per week Fix the roles of your staff members How many staff members will be required? Make rules for No-shows, late walk-ins, and cancellations. Assess your demand in the market.

Let's talk about the most efficient way to control your scheduling system. First, develop a system for identifying and prioritizing urgent appointments. This ensures timely attention to critical cases while maintaining a well-organized schedule. Second, regularly update staff availability in the scheduling system and provide training on efficient scheduling practices. This helps maintain accurate schedules and improves overall efficiency. Lastly, implement data analytics tools to monitor scheduling patterns and identify areas for improvement. Analyzing data can inform strategic adjustments to enhance the efficiency of your organization.

Implement "patient self-scheduling": The average phone call to schedule an appointment takes over eight minutes. Multiply that by the number of appointments bookings scheduled each day and your practice may be spending hours on appointment scheduling each day. Studies show that patients prefer to schedule their own appointments online. 26% of appointments scheduled online are for the same day or the next day, filling up empty spots on your schedule. Practices now have the ability to offer "real-time" patient scheduling anytime and from anywhere with Internet access. Online scheduling softwares are critical to healthcare and offer greater convenience for both practice and healthcare providers.

In my opinion “patient-self scheduling” is the best mechanism. However, it may need the technological advancement to take a pivotal role in this by implementing the right software to allow schedule in the empty slots.

Scheduling software will allow customizations that make the day flow more smoothly while solving for the complexities that result from personal preference. Gone are the days when every physician and every provider had to have their schedules set up identically. No more scheduling sticky notes are needed to make sure that each provider's preferences are honored to the extent that makes sense. For example, if Dr. A wants to see new patients first every morning; Dr. B wants to see return patients alternated with new patients; and Dr. C wants to see more new patients early in the week to account for sick visits being added on Fridays... GREAT! All of these can be accommodated without confusing the front desk team!

I see it’s very important to balance between the size of your entity and the cost of such a scheduling software; as it might be a huge deal of operational costs you can’t afford. WATCH OUT!

Training the staff to schedule appointments also means knowing the workload of the providers as to how much time they spend with their patients per appointment. It’s also premised to track and trend average amount of time for each appointment so as to set up the appropriate amount of appointments the next day. Use of ancillary staff in prepping an exam room and cleaning the exam room in between appointments is also important for turnaround times for the next patient.

Training the staff so that they understand how scheduling impacts clinical staff as well as the providers. Having a schedule that actually works and isn't overbooked to begin with. Patients believe their time is as valuable as ours. If they are scheduled for an appointment correctly then they should be able to get in and out of the clinic timely. This will make them happy and they will continue their care with you.

Training on scheduling software is essential! What I have found most helpful is to create a "cheat sheet" of sorts. For example, if you have 5 scheduling columns you can create a template with 5 columns on it as well, labeled with what types of appointments go in which column. You can also make your scheduling system work for you by creating watermarks, or background "holds" in the schedule to reserve appointment slots for certain types of procedures. This will help keep a well balanced schedule.

Training is of critical importance! If there are different appointment types, ensure that the team knows what each appointment type signifies and why. Why is a hospital follow up different from a return patient if they can be scheduled at the same time and for the same duration? If the visit type signals something to the clinical staff, then the front office needs to know that. If it's for statistics / reporting, they need to know that. If there is no difference, don't have separate appointment types!

Training the staff is the key to scheduling appointments correctly. Start by explaining that the schedule is the most important tool to controlling how the practice runs on a daily basis. Showing how each appointment and the time frame works with the flow and the ability to complete that particular appointment. With that knowledge the staff can begin schedule things correctly. Making sure to ask the clients questions when scheduling, ensure previous records are acquired(if needed) and selecting the correct time slot. Follow up is key

Monitor your appointment statistics. Know which appointment types are being used most frequently. And remove those that are rarely or never used. The more simply you can design your schedule, the better! But don't take that too far. If you condense to one appointment that has to be manually adjusted or that the front office has to create notes for... you've made things worse! Scheduling doesn't have to be complicated! Just intentional.

Appointment scheduling is the sales funnel for all clinicians. Only 8-9 percent of total appointments actually convert to IPD patients. It's not only the effective scheduling through multiple sources , regular updation is a must

Please go an extra step and answer all the questions of your patients. Or you can train your staff for this or you can hire an assistant for this This will build trust and credibility. You can also record Q&A sessions with your patient so you can save time in the future for the same questions.

In my experience, you look at the schedules, number exam rooms, and staffing levels. Additionally, I would value the input of your physicians. I would also recommend looking at industry benchmarks from such sources as MGMA.

It encompasses all 5. Each practice is different and catering for the needs of the client in terms of what services you provide will differ. A scheduling system should be implemented and not kept too rigid, in that some clients will phone, others prefer online, walk-ins etc...Staff training is imperative in that they are the front line to you. Customer care is essential.

As a physician, it is important to educate patients about the significance of arriving on time and adhering to the scheduled duration of appointments.