Matulis JC, McCoy R, et al.
Journal of general internal medicine. Date of publication 2021 Feb 1;volume 36(2):511-514.
1. J Gen Intern Med. 2021 Feb;36(2):511-514. doi: 10.1007/s11606-020-06058-9.
Epub 2020 Sep 3.
Patient-Centered Appointment Scheduling: a Call for Autonomy, Continuity, and
Creativity.
Matulis JC(1), McCoy R(2).
Author information:
(1)Division of Community Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic,
200 1st ST SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA. Matulis.John@mayo.edu.
(2)Division of Community Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic,
200 1st ST SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA.
When making an appointment, patients are generally unaware of how much clinician
time is available to address their concerns. Similarly, the primary care
clinician is often unaware of what the patient expects to accomplish during the
visit, leading to uncertainty about how much time they can allot to each
sequentially appearing concern, and whether they can reasonably expect to
address necessary preventive services and chronic disease management. Neither
patient nor clinician expectations can be adequately managed through
standardized scheduling templates, which assign a fixed appointment length based
on a single stated reason for the visit. As such, standardized appointment
scheduling may contribute to inefficient use of valuable face-to-face time,
patient and clinician dissatisfaction, and low-value care. Herein, we suggest
several potential mechanisms for improving the scheduling process, including (1)
entrusting scheduling to the primary care team; (2) advance visit planning; (3)
pro-active engagement of ancillary team members including behavioral health,
nursing, social work, and pharmacy; and (4) application of innovative,
technologically advanced solutions such as telehealth and artificial
intelligence to the scheduling process. These changes have the potential to
improve efficiency, patient and clinician satisfaction, and health outcomes,
while decreasing low-value testing and return visits for unaddressed concerns.
DOI: 10.1007/s11606-020-06058-9
PMCID: PMC7471539
PMID: 32885369 [Indexed for MEDLINE]
Conflict of interest statement: Dr. McCoy reports grants from NIDDK and from
AARP relevant to her work in Diabetes research, but outside the scope of the
submitted work.
