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Cancellations and patient access to physicians: ZocDoc and the evolution of e-medicine

Zuhair Siddiqui1, Rashid Rashid

  • 1University of Texas at Houston, Houston, Texas.

Dermatology Online Journal
|September 12, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Online appointment scheduling shows promise for improving patient attendance in dermatology clinics. Patients booking online had significantly lower no-show rates compared to traditional booking methods, suggesting a more reliable system.

Area of Science:

  • Dermatology
  • Health Informatics
  • Patient Access

Background:

  • Physician concerns regarding patient appointment attendance.
  • The increasing adoption of online appointment booking systems.
  • The evolving landscape of patient engagement in healthcare.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the attendance rates of dermatology appointments booked online.
  • To compare online booking attendance with traditional scheduling methods.
  • To analyze attendance patterns in rural versus urban clinic settings.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of appointment records from ZocDoc.com over a six-month period.
  • Inclusion of three dermatology clinics situated outside Houston, Texas.
  • Comparison of no-show rates between online and traditional appointment bookings.

Main Results:

  • Online appointments demonstrated significantly lower non-attendance rates (6.9%) compared to traditional methods.
  • Patients who missed appointments were, on average, younger than those who attended.
  • Older patients were more likely to cancel appointments than younger patients.
  • Urban clinics exhibited higher non-attendance rates than rural clinics.

Conclusions:

  • Online appointment scheduling appears to reduce patient no-shows in dermatology.
  • The study suggests online booking is a more reliable method for appointment attendance.
  • Future research with larger sample sizes is warranted given the novelty of online scheduling.
Abstract

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