MEAS 109 Chapter 16

Cluster scheduling

*Categorization scheduling *Groups similar appointments together on a specific day or for a specific block of time during the day or week *Used for blood sugar screenings and school physicals

Patient scheduling situations

*Emergencies *Referrals *Fasting Patients *Patients with diabetes *Late Arrivals *Walk-ins *Cancellations *Missed and Wrong day appointments

Ways to keep an accurate and efficient practitioner schedule.

*Ensure an even flow of patients throughout the day *Errors or overbooking may require you to rearrange appointments as necessary and to accommodate emergency appointments with minimal interruptions to the already established schedule. *If the schedule is consistently overbooked or patient wait time becomes consistently too long, it will be your responsibility to find the cause(s) and corrections for the issues and present these to the practitioner or office manager.

How do you handle special scheduling situations?

*It requires critical thinking skills and creativity. *They can arise if the practitioner is running late or if a patient requires an emergency appointment. *Other scheduling problems also may include a patient who does not show, arrives late, or arrives on the wrong day. *Documentation of any patient-related appointment issues should be recorded in the patient's medical record for legal purposes.

Types of appointment scheduling systems

*Open hours *Time-specified *Wave Scheduling *Modified - Wave Scheduling *Double-booking *Cluster Scheduling *Advance scheduling *Combination Scheduling: It is common for offices to use any combination of these as best suits each practice.

Wave scheduling

*Patients are scheduled to come in "waves" or together *Works best in larger medical facilities that have enough departments and personnel to provide services to several patients at the same time

Modified wave scheduling.

*Patients might be scheduled in 15-minute increments

Time-specified scheduling

*Stream scheduling *Assumes a steady stream of patients all day long at regular specified intervals

Double-booking system

*Two or more patients are purposely scheduled for the same appointment slot *Assumes both patients will be seen within the scheduled period

Advance scheduling

*Used to book patients weeks or months in advance *Used for annual gynecological examinations

Open-hours scheduling

*Walk-in system *Few (if any) scheduled appointments *Patients walk in understanding that they will be seen on a first-come, first-served basis. *(May alter an emergency)

Identify how to properly apply a matrix to an appointment book.

*You must know the usual schedule of provider availability to see patients as well as the times the provider (or practice) will not be open to see patients. *The latter times should be X out with a short reason given as to why the time is unavailable. *Follow the instructions for the electronic scheduler to block out the appropriate time frames.

New Patients

- a patient that has never been seen at the clinic, or was seen greater than 3 years ago - no previous records - longer visit - detailed chart

Which of the following can cause appointment scheduling to get off track?

-Appointments running longer than expected -Patients arriving late -No-shows -Emergency appointments

Which of the following have been barriers to implementing an online scheduling option for some medical practices?

-Cost -Security

Which of the following are strategies that patients sometimes use to avoid waiting at the medical office?

-Deliberately arriving after a scheduled appointment time-Walking in without an appointment and expecting to be seen-Arriving earlier at an appointment in hope of being seen sooner

Which of the following should be recorded next to a canceled or no-show appointment?

-Initials -Reason for canceling -"NS" or "can"

Which of the following are advantages of computerized scheduling?

-It blocks off slots for emergency appointments. -It keeps track of patient attendance.

Which of the following are characteristics of a well-managed appointment book?

-It presents the office in a positive, professional manner. -It is key to patient continuity of care.

What are the three major pieces of patient information that should be obtained when scheduling an appointment?

-Patient name -Reason for visit -Patient phone number

The scheduling system chosen usually depends on which of the following factors?

-Physician preferences -Type of practice

What are the 3 components to consider while scheduling?

-Physician's preference and habits -Patient needs -Available facilities

Which of the following would be blocked off on an appointment schedule because the doctor is unavailable?

-Scheduled meetings -Hospital rounds -Holidays- Lunch -Vacation days -Surgery

Which of the following are goals of an appointment scheduling system?

-Smooth flow of patients -Minimum waiting times

Which of the following are disadvantages of open hours booking?

-There is a possibility that no patients at the office at a given time. -Charts cannot be pulled in advance

Abbreviations: 1. pt 2. PT 3. c/o 4. cons 5. NP 6. NS

1. patient 2. physical therapy 3. complains of 4. consultation 5. new patient 6. no-show patient

Abbreviations :1. re 2. ref 3. RS 4. S/R 5. surg

1. recheck 2. referral 3. reschedule 4. suture removal 5. surgery

Some experts advise keeping old appointment books for at least ______ year(s).

3

Generally speaking, a new patient visit should be scheduled in the appointment book or electronic schedule for how long?

30 to 45 minutes

some experts advise keeping old appointment books for at least how many years?

3years

appointment book

A book used to schedule, cancel, and reschedule appointments; can be color-coded or arranged so a week is shown at a glance.

Itinerary

A detailed travel plan listing: *Dates and times of flights and events *Locations of meetings and lodgings *Telephone numbers

Walk-in

A patient who arrives without an appointment and still expects to see a provider.

confirmation call

A reminder telephone call made to patients 1 to 2 days before their appointments.

Encounter forms/superbills

As the patient leaves the office, he or she is often given paperwork to return to the front desk.

Matrix

Basic outline of times the practitioners are and are not available to see patients.

Computerized Scheduling

Becoming more common in medical offices because it has several advantages over handwritten systems. One of the main advantages of a computerized system is that the scheduling information can be accessed from all terminals.

What does a medical assistant do in the appointment book if the doctor has a surgery at 9:00 a.m. and it will last about an hour?

Block off 2 hours in the appointment book

In a paper scheduling format, how is it indicated that a time slot is unavailable?

Draw an "X" through unavailable time slots.

Which type of appointments cause the schedule to run behind because they have to be squeezed in?

Emergency

Which of the following is an advantage of open-hours scheduling?

It eliminates problems caused by broken appointments.

Under-booking

Leaving large unused gaps in the schedule

Ways to organize and schedule patient appointments.

Maintain *A positive attitude. *Professional image as a representative of the office You should consider: *Whether the patient is new or established. *Patient preference *Accommodate the patient as much as possible while maintaining an efficient office schedule. *Appointments should be confirmed through appointment cards, phone calls, email notifications (when permitted by patient), and mailing of recall notices

Oline scheduling

Online scheduling allows patient to schedule them self or request an appointment via the internet. (e-scheduling)

Walk-in

Patient who arrives at the office without an appointment

No-show

Patients who do not call to cancel and do not come to the appointment.

Minutes

Report of what was discussed and decided upon at the meeting.

Overbooking

Scheduling more patients than can be reasonably be seen in the time allowed.

Locum tenens

Substitute physician

How do you schedule appointments that are outside the medical office?

They need to be made to/for: *Laboratories *Radiological services *In- and outpatient surgeries *Hospital stays *You will require the patient's demographic and health insurance information along with the procedure or service to be performed and the reason for the service. *Preferred dates and times also should be noted. *If referrals or prior authorizations are required, you also may be required to obtain these so that the procedure/service is eligible for payment by the patient's insurance plan.

Usefulness of appointment card

To reduce the chance of error.

Appointment Cards

Used to remind patients of scheduled appointments and to eliminate misunderstandings about dates and times.

Describe how the appointment book is key to the continuity of patient care.

When used properly, it allows the office staff to respect the time of both the practitioner and the patient, by keeping an efficient and timely flow of patients throughout the day.

In an open-hours system, what is used to determine which practitioners are available to see patients at any given time?

a matrix

Established Patient

a patient who has been seen by a provider in the practice in the same specialty within three years

reminder mailings

cards or computer generated forms mailed to the pt informing him that an appt is coming up

recall notice

cards or computer-generated forms sent to inform the patient that he or she missed a scheduled appointment or that he or she is overdue for a procedure.

Being able to access an appointment schedule from multiple areas in the office is an advantage of ______ scheduling.

computerized

missed and wrong-day appointments

document a no-show in the appointment book and patient record. always inform the physician of any missed appointments in case the patient's condition requires a follow-up

walk-in

from time to time, a patient may arrive without an appointment and still expect to see the provider.

Late arrivals

if the practice has patients who are routingly late and gentle reminders to be on time have not helped, you might try booking them toward the end of the day.

Because medical appointment books are legal documents, the schedule should be written in

ink

practitioner scheduling situations

not all scheduling problem result from patients. sometimes practitioner disrupt the office schedule as well. they may be called away on an emergency, may be delayed at the hospital or may simply arrive late.

Which of the following is a scheduling system in which patients arrive at their own convenience with the understanding that they will be seen on a first-come, first-served basis?

open-hours

referrals

people who apply for a vacancy because someone in the organization prompted them to do so. when arranging referrals to either you practitioners or facilities, be sure that the facility accepts the patient's insurance

fasting patients

refrain from eating or drinking anything; schedule them early as possible in the day to show consideration for their needs.

patient with diabetes

similar to fasting patient, patients with diabetes can use extra consideration when you schedule their appointments. avoid scheduling patients with diabetes for a slots in the morning

emergencies

things that happen without warning and require a quick response.

In order to schedule appointments efficiently, you must have a guideline of how much ______ visits are expected to take.

time

cancellation

when patients call to cancel appointments, try to reschedule the appointment while they are on the telephone.