Appointment access: planning to benchmark a complex issue

Kaiser Permanente-Southern California Region carried out an external benchmarking project to improve appointment access. This article provides practical guidelines for planning a benchmark project around a complex issue such as appointment access.

Before conducting external site visits, team members determined the goals of the project, defined internal processes, and identified 16 key elements of access (or those factors important to member satisfaction with appointment access). Once a questionnaire was finalized, external benchmark partners were identified and on-site visits conducted.

On the basis of the on-site visits, team members identified innovative and best practices for each of the 16 key elements of access. Based on these recommendations, some improvements were made across the Southern California region, such as the elimination of provisional booking. Reports of the results have also been sent to Kaiser Permanente medical centers in the region and across the country. Each medical center is encouraged to use these results to internally improve its own appointment access.