Healthcare Appointment Wait Times: Myth vs. Reality

Common reasons for patient appointment delays and the need for practices to optimize their scheduling processes and improve patient communication to address the issue.

Real-time data covering 56 million patient encounters reveals the actual reasons patients wait.

A patient has been sitting in the waiting room for nearly an hour. They glance at their watch again and begin to stress about whether they’ll make it home in time for the kids’ school bus. ‘Why can’t this doctor ever be on time?’ they wonder.

Blaming providers for appointment delays is common among patients and even many practice managers. The assumption is that if only the provider would stick to the schedule, the office would run smoothly and patients wouldn’t have to wait.

Is the provider usually at fault, though? At DOCPACE, we use smart technologies to help practices improve schedule efficiency and our data says ‘no.’ In fact, an analysis of over 56 million patient encounters nationwide indicates that providers are rarely at the root of scheduling problems.

The Real Reasons Patients Wait

If it’s not providers causing long wait times, why are delays happening at practice after practice after practice? The most common scheduling issues identified in the DOCPACE data include:

• A patient needs substantially more (or less) time than scheduled.

• A patient arrives late and the office accommodates them.

• A patient is roomed too early, creating an exam room or equipment bottleneck that delays subsequent patients.

• A patient is inserted in the queue or seen out of order.

Our data does reveal cases in which a particular provider routinely takes longer than colleagues within the same practice, but we find relatively few of these ‘habitual schedule offenders.’ The vast majority of providers are prompt and efficient.

Patient Behaviors Matter—But Practices Must Act First

It’s true that patients themselves are more often the cause of scheduling upset than are providers. Unfortunately, practices cannot expect to improve patients’ adherence with scheduled appointments without first:

• Earning their trust. Patients today have little confidence that the time on their appointment card is the time they will actually be seen. Many patients, therefore, make it a habit to arrive late or may decide on the day of the appointment that they don’t have time at all.

• Providing information. Practices must equip patients with enough information too. How far in advance should a new patient arrive? How long will the appointment take? When patients can make appropriate arrangements, such as organizing child care or avoiding work conflicts, late arrivals, no-shows, and walkouts plummet.

• Optimizing appointment times. Collecting more information from patients about their specific needs can help practices schedule enough (but not too much) time for their appointment. Historical data about appointment duration is also invaluable in assigning the correct amount of time for each appointment type, provider, and patient.

“Goldilocks” Appointment Times

Beneath the bulk of the wait time issues we’ve examined, there is a single underlying cause: one-size-fits-all appointment scheduling. From the era of paper calendars to today’s practice information management systems, appointments have typically been meted out in 15- and 30-minute increments. Actual appointments, however, may take 11 or 22 or 37 minutes.

What’s more, an appointment isn’t one activity. There is generally paperwork to complete and then pre-checks by a nurse or tech before the provider is involved. If those processes run long (or short), the time booked for the provider won’t line up properly. The appointment cycle matters.

Here’s the most startling discovery—according to our data, current scheduling practices aren’t only filling up waiting rooms, they’re also costing practices 10 to 20 percent in provider idle time. Practices are losing out on revenues even as most offices are feeling the pinch from low reimbursement rates and constant pressure to drive efficiency.

This may sound like bad news, but recognizing that appointment scheduling is the problem can be empowering. Addressing the waiting room backlog doesn’t require providers to compromise on patient care. Practice managers can realize a better bottom line without pushing providers to constantly “hurry up.” All it takes is adjusting appointment slots to reflect the actual time required to provide exceptional care in each case.

Not too long. Not too short. Just right. A Goldilocks appointment.

The fix starts with information. Where are your bottlenecks? How is idle time creeping in? Find out now.

DOCPACE will conduct a complementary workflow analysis and idle time discovery. You’ll walk away with a complete Findings & Opportunities Report so you can get started on some changes. Just schedule your consultation here.

And yes, we promise to honor the appointment time you select, with no delays!