1. Scheduling
Appointments
and Receiving
Patients

2. Preparing the Appointment
Schedule
 Appointment books versus computerized
scheduling
A well-managed Unexpected
appointment book events that occur
• Creates an efficient • Early and late arrivals
• No-show patients
patient flow
• Emergencies
• Shows respect for
• Physicians spend
everyone’s time by extra time with
preventing excessive patients
wait time

3. Establishing a matrix
 Preparing the
appointment book
 Create the matrix, or
basic format
 Block off times the
doctor
is unavailable
 Examples of when time
should be blocked off
 Hospital rounds
 Surgery
 Vacation and
holidays
 Scheduled meetings

4. Methods of Scheduling
 Clustering  Streaming
 Double-booking  Wave
 Walk in/open hours  Modified wave
 Single-booking

5. Apply Your Knowledge
A large pediatrician office commonly must
“squeeze in” patients in that have become ill,
so this new office plans to offer
immunizations only twice per week. Which
scheduling system(s) would you recommend
for this medical practice?
ANSWER: Combination scheduling consisting of cluster and
a form of wave scheduling would be recommended to allow
for the needed flexibility.

6. Appointment Documentation
 Schedules are legal documents
 Important to enter information correctly
 Follow office procedure for cancelling
appointments
 Can be useful to document a history of no-
show or cancellation

7. Creating New Appointments

8. Creating New Appointments
 Required information
 Correctly spelled name
 Next available appointment or time
requested
 Date and time understood by patient
 Amount of time to be reserved
 Preference for time of day
 Alternate time

9. Creating New Appointments
 Telephone  Patient’s full
appointments name
 Obtain all Home and work
necessary 
information before telephone
patient hangs up numbers
 Read back  Purpose of the
information to visit
verify

10. Creating New Appointments
Follow-up
appointments
 Appointment
cards

11. Creating New Appointments
 Referral appointments
 Often referred for diagnostic testing, or to
see a specialist
 Inpatient admissions
 Be prepared to provide necessary
information

12. Arranging Appointments
 Offer choices
 Dates
 Times
 Accommodate patient’s needs
whenever possible
 Confirm choice with patient

13. The Appointment Book:
Determining Standard Procedure Times
Complete Physical Exam 30-60 min
Minor in office Surgery 30 min
Emergency office visit 15-20 min
New Patient Visit 30 min or >
Suture Removal 10-20 min
Prenatal Examination 15 min
Follow up Office visit 5-10 min
Pam Smear and Pelvic 15-30 min
Consultation 15-30 min
Minor Illness 10-15 min
Blood Pressure or Weight 10 min
Check

14. Maintaining the Schedule
 Walk-in or chronically late patients
 Missed or cancelled appointments
 Business appointments

15. Maintaining the Physician’s
Schedule

16. Maintaining the Physician’s
Schedule (cont.)
 Overbooking
 Scheduling too many patients
 Office schedule falls behind
 Stressful for staff
 Underbooking
 Gaps in schedule
 Try to schedule another appointment
in cancelled time slot

17. Maintaining the Physician’s
Schedule (cont.)
 Emergencies or delays
 Apologize to waiting patients
 Offer choice
 Estimated waiting time
 Leave to run errands and return at
agreed-upon time
 Reschedule appointment for another
day

18. Special Scheduling Situations:
Patient
 Emergencies
 Seen immediately upon arrival at the office
 Explain to waiting patients without details
 Provide opportunity to reschedule
 Referrals
 Referred patients should be seen as soon as
possible
 When arranging referrals for a patient
 Provide choices
 Be sure the facility accepts the patient’s insurance
 Document in patient record

19. Special Scheduling Situations:
Patient (cont.)
 Fasting patients
 Fast
 Refrain from eating or drinking
 Usually beginning the night before the
appointment
 Schedule as early as possible
 Instruct patient about the need to fast
and when
to start

20. Special Scheduling Situations:
Patient (cont.)
 Patients with diabetes
 Require regular meals and snacks to
regulate blood glucose
 Consider avoiding late morning slots
that are close to lunchtime
 Keep appropriate snacks on hand
in the event a patient develops a
low blood sugar

21. Special Scheduling Situations:
Physician
 Physicians may throw the
schedule off by
 Arriving late to the office
 Returning late from lunch or
meetings
 Being called away for emergencies
 Being delayed at the hospital
If a physician is late repeatedly, you may want to
add some buffer time to the schedule and slot
patients accordingly.

22. Apply Your Knowledge
Mr. Washington needs a follow-up
appointment in a week for a fasting blood
sugar after the physician changed his
medicine for diabetes. How should you
handle this appointment?
ANSWER: The appointment should be made for the first or
second appointment for that day. Mr. Washington should be
reminded he should not eat or drink after midnight, and that
he should not take his diabetes medicine prior to the
appointment but should bring it with him.

23. Greeting Patients
 “You
never get a second chance to
make a first impression.”
 Smile
 Use active listening skills
 Make eye contact
 Provide clear and complete explanations
 Maintain confidentiality

24. Greeting Patients
 Patient sign-in
 Helps maintain the schedule
 Always protect confidential patient
information
 Obtain new patient information
 Verify insurance eligibility

25. New Patient Information
 Complete, correctly  Health insurance
spelled name information
 Date of birth  Guarantor
 Social security  Employer information
number  Driver’s license
 Marital status  Referral information
 Current address
 Telephone numbers

26. Explaining Office Policies
 Use good communication techniques
 Patients may be unsure about new and
unfamiliar experiences
 Helps ease fears
 Maintains good rapport with patients
 Clarifies office policies
 Encourages patient compliance