Reducing Wait Times and Improving the Patient Experience for Specialist Visits

The average wait time to see a specialist in the US is more than 24 days, according to a survey by Merrit Hawkins mentioned in an article in Becker’s Hospital Review. Long wait times are patients’ number one dissatisfaction about specialist visits.

Long Waits + Difficulty Scheduling Appointments and Connecting to Providers = Poor Patient Experience and Outcomes

Long waits, along with difficulty scheduling appointments and connecting to providers, can mean:

• Delayed care, or sometimes care not received at all. As patient wait times increase, patients are more likely to cancel appointments, or fail to show up altogether. The number one reason patients cancel or fail to show up is poor patient access .
• Poor patient satisfaction ratings. The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS)^® survey and other patient satisfaction surveys ask patients how long they have to wait to talk to providers, how long they have to wait between calling a specialist’s office and speaking to someone, whether they experienced difficulty doing so, and if so, the reason for the difficulty, such as inconvenient appointment times.
• Provider and staff dissatisfaction and burnout. Providers and staff feel overwhelmed and frustrated when patients fail to keep appointments, as well as stressed when dealing with patient complaints about appointment delays.

What You Can Do

While not all factors are within your control, there are some ways specialist practices can reduce wait times and help their patients have a better overall experience. These include:

• Online direct scheduling: The easier it is for patients to make appointments, the more likely they are to keep them. Online direct scheduling allows patients to see which options are available and choose the best ones for their needs.
• Appointment type organization: Appointment types vary depending on patients’ needs, from initial consultations and pre-op consultations to post-op and follow-up visits. Allowing for different types of appointments in terms of length of time, etc. can allow more efficient scheduling.
• Virtual visits: Specialists and primary care providers of all types have come to embrace virtual visits as a way to give their patients more options for greater access to the care they need. 
• Onsite technology: Computer kiosks and tablets in providers’ waiting areas for patient check in/registration, appointment scheduling, etc. can reduce time for patient intake before visits.
• Patient portals/mobile apps: These allow patients to communicate with providers securely and conveniently, and some even offer real time chats.

We encourage you and your staff to:

• Review your practice’s patient satisfaction data and discuss what’s working well and what can be improved
• Discuss whether any of the options above, as well as other technologies, could work for your practice
• Ask your patients about which options they’d like to see in your practice

Learn More

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has resources for improving patients’ experiences with primary and specialty care .