Practice owners work hard to provide the best patient care, but most of them struggle while keeping patient wait time as minimum as possible. Nearly two out of every five patients are frustrated with providers even before their check-up begins. You would be surprised to know that practices that fail to address this high wait-time issue stand to lose up to 48 percent of their patient base within a year. Failure to implement solutions in your waiting room will severely impact your ability to retain, attract, and satisfy patients. Recently SoftwareAdvice conducted a survey on long patient times, we used some of the findings of that report in this blog. In this article, we discussed the causes of long patient wait times, their reactions to long wait times, and managing long patient wait times.
Causes of Long Patient Wait Time
The truth is, patients are typically the ones creating those long wait times for each other. For example, patients who arrive late to their appointments and still expect to be seen cause physicians to run behind in their schedules. Likewise, patients can book shorter appointments and then take extra time once they get in the exam room. Patients who carefully choose their providers and practices are the prime reason behind long wait times. 64 percent of the providers mentioned that patient arrives later than their scheduled appointment time. 61 percent of providers mentioned that unexpected patient issues like patients requiring unique or additional documentation/treatment are the prime reason for the long wait time.
Common Patient Reactions
SoftwareAdvice shared their survey finding reports on patient reaction on long time wait. Following are common patient reactions to long patient wait times.
- Nearly 25 percent of patients say they’ve literally walked out of a waiting room, choosing to reschedule or even cancel rather than wait any longer.
- Practices tend to overbook patients to balance canceled/missed appointments, but the resulting long wait times can actually cause missed appointments.
- A patient’s negative experience with practice wait times has a ripple effect that extends from close friends and family to strangers on the internet. In fact, 24 percent of patients have discouraged their friends and family from seeing a certain doctor, and 14 percent have left critical comments on online review sites specifically because of practice wait times.
- 41 percent of patients specifically look for information about wait times when evaluating new doctors through online reviews.
Managing Long Patient Wait Time
Managing patient wait time is a balancing act, schedule enough patients per day to cover practice costs, but try not to overbook the agenda. This is tougher than it sounds, considering health care providers must account for the unexpected, such as last-minute cancellations and no-shows. As per the survey report, 64 percent of physicians say patient arrival times (e.g., patients arriving later than their scheduled appointment time) are usually the biggest reason they run behind schedule. The average no-show rate for most U.S. practices is around 20 percent, no-show patients cost around $200 per unused time slot. That’s a lot of lost revenue, so it’s understandable for practices to schedule as many patients as they can to mitigate the financial losses from missed appointments. However, it’s also important to ensure wait times aren’t routinely long because practices run the risk of upsetting the scheduling balance and causing patient satisfaction rates to crash. Providers can rely on software and strategies to help combat patient-related delays. Some of the ways to reduce high patient wait time are as follows:
- Use software to send multiple appointment reminders. If you are using medical billing software then you can send reminders using such software also. You can automate these reminders to be sent via text message, email.
- Try to anticipate whether you’ll need to spend more time than usual on a particular visit. Ask patients to complete paperwork ahead of their visit to determine whether their symptoms appear to require additional attention.
- Create, communicate, and enforce a late arrivals policy.
- When asked if patients would be open to seeing another provider in the practice if it meant a shorter wait. Obviously, this tip won’t applicable to solo providers.
MedicalBillersandCoders (MBC) is a leading medical billing service provider company, that provides complete revenue cycle services (RCM). For provider education, we share articles on the latest medical billing and coding guidelines, industry news, and practice management. You can visit our blogs section to stay updated on the latest industry news.
FAQs
1. What are the main causes of long patient wait times?
Long wait times are often caused by patients arriving late for appointments, patients taking extra time during visits, or unexpected issues like needing additional documentation or treatment. Overbooking to cover missed appointments also contributes to delays.
2. How do long wait times affect patient satisfaction?
Long wait times can lead to patient frustration, with 25% of patients walking out, and 41% looking for information about wait times when evaluating new doctors. Negative experiences can also result in canceled appointments, online reviews, and discouraged referrals.
3. How can I manage patient wait times effectively?
To manage wait times, try to avoid overbooking, use software to send multiple appointment reminders, and ask patients to complete paperwork ahead of time. Implementing a late arrivals policy and anticipating longer visits can also help reduce delays.
4. How does patient no-show impact wait times and practice revenue?
No-shows contribute to long wait times and lost revenue, as the average no-show rate is around 20%, costing practices about $200 per unused time slot. Overbooking is often used to offset these financial losses but can cause further delays.
5. How can MedicalBillersandCoders (MBC) assist in reducing patient wait times?
MBC can help streamline your practice’s revenue cycle management by automating appointment reminders, improving patient documentation processes, and offering tools to better manage scheduling. This reduces the risk of long wait times and improves patient satisfaction.
