Office hours are posted on the front door and reviewed with patients during their office visit. All patients have access to a physician on-call 24 hours a day or, in emergency situations, referred to the nearest emergency room.
Effective patient scheduling is essential for patients to have access to clinical care, to ensure office productivity, and to support patient rights.
Careful management of patient’s access to the office is critical for quality and patient satisfaction. This includes the following steps:
1. Whenever possible, accommodate patient convenience and appointment preference.
2. While appointment scheduling should follow guidelines established by the practice, be flexible to support treating physicians’ decisions regarding a patient’s access to clinical services, appointments, and patient flow management.
3. Give surveys to other practices from time to time to see if there is a written policy or guidelines statement regarding appointment scheduling, and if the guidelines are followed in actual practice. Inquire regarding the practice’s systems for handling missed and canceled appointments, and check for follow-up attempts in the medical records, if applicable.