Practices thrive when the appointment schedule is full. However, your patients may lose their patience when made to wait a prolonged period to see a physician. If your patients are losing their patience, chances are, they are already lost and are looking for a new provider that can see them on a more timely basis.
Patient scheduling is somewhat reflective of the economic principle of supply and demand.
A theory based on this principle, called advanced-access scheduling, hypothesizes that scheduling appointment requests as they are received, even on the same day, allows patients' requests for appointments to be met in a timely manner. Success in creating timely access is dependent on a balance between provider supply and patient demand. When provider supply and patient demand are in equilibrium, the practice can accommodate today's appointment requests today. In order for this theory to work, everyone needs to believe in this principle. Providers anxious about open schedules and reverting to standard scheduling or staff that feels they are saving work by standard scheduling will hinder advanced-access scheduling.