A method to improve patient access in urological practice.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Surgical Practice Operations
• Patient Access Improvement

Background:

• Traditional patient access improvement studies often focus on primary care or managed systems.
• Surgical practices present unique challenges including referrals, imaging needs, and procedure scheduling.
• Enhancing new patient access in surgical settings requires tailored approaches.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if a new scheduling system can improve new patient access in a surgical practice.
• To reduce new patient appointment wait times to a goal of 5 working days.
• To assess the durability of implemented changes in patient access.

Main Methods:

• Implemented a 12-week transition to a new scheduling approach.
• Reserved 10% of appointments weekly, up to 50%, for new patients.
• Made reserved slots available only 1 week prior to the appointment date.

Main Results:

• Significantly reduced new patient appointment delay times.
• Observed durable improvements in access sustained for 2 years.
• Found no significant change in the patient no-show rate.

Conclusions:

• A surgical office can successfully improve clinic consultation access with this scheduling system.
• The implemented strategy effectively addresses long new patient wait times.
• This approach offers a practical solution for enhancing patient access in surgical care settings.