How to get patients seen when they need it (or how we fought the matrix and won)

Before the recession, growth was easy. The environment was fairly predictable, and returns on investment came quickly. With little difficulty, a private practice could increase the total services it provided, resulting in increased patient encounters and increased profit. But the growth of Maryland's largest and oldest orthopaedic practice came with a price: a jumbled, imposing document known as "the matrix" that governed a troubled appointment process. OrthoMaryland knew the matrix had to go but lacked an incentive to do the work needed to replace it. Then came the recession, which made borrowing money for a private specialty practice like OrthoMaryland as difficult as borrowing money for a home loan. At the same time, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is transforming the way private practices will be reimbursed for services. The changes to the fee-for-service model plus the increased emphasis on patient satisfaction meant the practice would need to both increase the number of patients seen and make them more satisfied at the same time. And that meant the matrix had to go.