Physicians must first eliminate backlogs to free up their schedules so they can take same-day appointments. As a result, they must often work additional hours in the evenings and on weekends to get the system up and running. But once open access is in place, Dr. Kilo said, the schedule settles down. Dr. Gomez says he and his partner rarely work late. During the other 22 weeks, however, physicians saw slightly fewer patients.
Demand is finite.
The open access system can also improve other aspects of patient scheduling. While nearly a third of callers to PeaceHealth's South Clinic used to hang up while on hold, the open access system eliminated the need for schedulers to spend time on each call searching for an appropriate slot on an appropriate day. And at Medical Care Center North in Chelsea, Mass., a practice that is part of Affiliated Physicians Group, implementing the open access system has meant reduced patient waiting times in the office. The four-internist office cut the overall time patients spend in the office, including time spent with the physician, from 70 minutes in February 1999 to 37 minutes in May of the same year. Because the practice's days aren't fully booked, last-minute patients with acute conditions aren't being stuffed into already full schedules.