According to a patient survey, 60% of respondents have looked for a different provider to schedule an appointment sooner.

You want to meet your patients’ urgent needs, yet even booking every call has its drawbacks. Vitals’ 9th annual wait time report finds that 30% of people have walked out due to long waiting times.

The answer to improving productivity isn’t how many appointments you book but how you construct and manage your schedule. Let’s look at what improvements you can make to your patient scheduling.

Plan Your Timeline

You should know your work capacity and availability to make the most of your time and ensure no one’s kept waiting. Consider:

  • The number of patients you plan on admitting
  • How many hours staff members can work
  • How long appointments will last
  • Whether waiting times will be acceptable

You’ll always have unexpected delays and no-shows, but a general plan is sure to help. This will dictate what your schedule should look like, and which arrangements need to be in place.

Use Data and Statistics

Tracking data such as the average wait time and the number of no-shows can be useful when gauging your practice’s current capacity. This insight helps you focus on methods that will benefit your scheduling the most.

Avoid Double-Booking

When we make an appointment, we expect to be serviced at the designated time. Double-booking, as well as overbooking, can create wait lines and inconvenience both patients and staff. 

While you should avoid double booking, you can do your best to make it work if it does need to take place. For example, another healthcare professional can conduct initial consultations before the doctor enters the exam room.

Prioritize Appointments

Not all patients require the same degree of service. Thus, you need to be aware of the patient’s individual needs to ensure your schedule is as efficient as possible.

Prioritize more complicated cases and look for alternative ways to resolve minor concerns – sometimes, a phone call or online meeting may be equally as helpful as an in-office consultation.

This way, you can save time and energy while servicing more patients, increasing efficiency and profitability.

Book Similar Patients

Booking patients with similar conditions on the same day can help the entire staff create a better workflow. Physicians can focus on related medical issues, use the same equipment or techniques, and provide more immediate diagnoses and solutions.

Confirm Appointments

Your schedule may be busy on paper, but to keep it that way in practice, patients need to show up. Confirming appointments can remind people of their arrangements and ensure more on-time arrivals.

Even if the patient no longer requires the appointment, a reminder can incentivize them to cancel or reschedule, saving you a lot of time.

Communicate with Schedulers

Effective communication is the most crucial part of managing a schedule involving multiple people. Schedulers won’t necessarily know which patients are new or have complicated or priority conditions.

It will fall on you to ensure everyone understands the schedule and is informed of how the office runs.

Work with People You Can Rely On

Bad booking can cause financial losses, lower patient satisfaction, and even make you lose out on work. Outsourcing scheduling and confirmation services to the right people can help you save time and run a tighter ship.

Always Answer provides answering services that are adapted to your professional needs. Whether a virtual receptionist or a complete appointment scheduling service, we have you covered!

Contact us for an affordable and dependable way to manage your healthcare scheduling!