Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Average wait time for patients

We are analizing our solo practice office efffiency, or more accurately, imporvement outlets.
One of the suggestions is to actually have the MD in the room at the pts exact appt time.

What is the average wait time per patient?

It takes 15 minutes on average in our practice to verify insurance information. I don't start the clock until then. Some are verified ahead of time, but many have changed since the last visit.

Wow, that would be quite a feat. Here, I would say it is 10 to 30 minutes depending on the time of day.

Appointment and waiting times are a huge source of patient dissatisfaction and doctor frustration.
It is crucial to have a uniform expectation of what the "appointment time" means. I can tell you that the patients expect that a 10:15 appointmnet means that they are sitting with the doctor in the exam room at 10:15 and that they need to walk into the reception area at 10:14. They do not understand that an office visit takes ( I would guess) not less than 30 minutes even if the visit is given a 15 minute slot...they do not perceive as "work" the processs of insurance verification, demographic updates, vital signs, medication and allergy lists, referral for studies, prescriptions, charting, lab tracking.....they don't perceive that the appointment has started before they see the doctor.
We have tried to be on the same page of having an expectation that I would be seeing them at 10:15 by asking them to arrive 30 min early. That absolutely did not work.
We have also tried to adjust expectations by asking them to allow at least an hour for their visit, I don't think that works very well either...when we say this, they assume that we are planning to be off schedule ...
Then, of course, there are many days that we are off schedule because the patients show up late ( 3 at a time), or they come in with a problem that is much bigger than they acknowledged when making the appointment, or somebody who is sick needs to be worked into a schedule that was already full, so on and so on.
I just don't know how to fix this problem, we are often "an hour behind" and even have a sign made up to put out. ARGHH.

I can appreciate that as a problem. I, on the other hand, don't sweat it at all. Please don't think that makes me a bad doctor. I know one doctor who is so well liked by his patients, they have no issue waiting two hours (literally) for a five minute appointment. Granted, that would leave me patient-less.

The doctor I lease from is extremely wise. He is constantly telling me that he and I offer a certain brand of medicine and if the patients like that brand, they will come.

If a person wants to eat dinner in five minutes, they go to McDonald's where the expectation is a meal on your tray in under five minutes. If they want a very good meal, they go to a restaurant where the expectation of a three course meal is over an hour, and the will be waiting for a table even if their reservation is at 7 pm, and they are seated at 7:30 pm.

I think that most reasonable patients (and by most I meal over 90%) know that you will be running behind, and I think my patients know I will be on time at 1 pm until 3 pm and then up to an hour behind from 4:00 pm until 5:00 pm.

Having them show up at 3:30 pm for a 4:00 pm appointment only makes them think they have waited over an hour and a half for a 15 minute appointment.

My advice is not to sweat it, and if a patient transfers, then so be it. They will be unhappy with the doctor who gets them in the room in under ten minutes. They will sit there wondering why you couldn't do the same until the doctor spends five minutes with them and then dismisses all other questions.

Well said Bert! I'll second that. It is the nature of the beast to be off schedule to some degree. Emergencies happen, people are sometimes sicker than anyone knew ahead of time. From being on both sides of this, the thing that really matters is that you are engaged when it is time for your visit. If the doc is too focused on his/her computer(or other distractions) and not on the patient, it won't matter whether the visit in on time or early or late. That being said, it is good to look for inefficiencies in your patient flow. Sitting down with all players(front office, nursing, providers) and walking thru patient check-in, etc can help.

I completely agree. It makes a big difference if your receptionist lets them know you are running a little behind. If your MA tells you that the person in room 2 is after the person in room 1, but the person is room 1 is here with chronic abdominal pain and the person in room 2 is presenting with an obvious conjunctivitis.

I agree that it is always good to let the patient know you are running behind, and if they would like to reschedule that is fine. They may have an appt to get to. Sometimes being behind is unavoidable. That being said, I respect my patient's time and I expect them to respect mine. I try to see them within 10 minutes. However, I have been known to turn them away if they are 20 minutes late. They actually missed their appointment slot, and I won't make all the other patients wait because of this. If it is my doctor's appointment, I will be there at least 15 minutes early.