Quote:
Originally Posted by Halibut
I understand getting behind, I do. But if it happens on a daily basis, to me that means you're scheduling too many patients per hour. Since you were salaried and seeing more patients did not equal more income, why not reduce the number of appointments per day?
I've been in offices where more than one patient was scheduled at the exact same time. How doctors can in good conscience allow/encourage that in their practice is a mystery.
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Let me answer by giving an example of a frequent occurrence in my day. Urgent care sends me a patient with an eye infection. I have to work them into my schedule. Turns out they have a serious internal ocular inflammation that could damage vision. I start them on a treatment and need to see them next day, but my schedule is already full, so I have to add them on again. To delay seeing them is malpractice, so, no choice. Then, next day, a patient of mine calls with ocular pain, so I must see them. And so forth and so on.
So, if I reduce my appointments to accommodate the "extra patients", I make routine patients wait longer and they're not happy. Access to care is a major concern among patients.
It is a delicate balance between too few staff and too many. The group has to be profitable enough to hire and retain quality staff. With insurance reimbursements falling and the ancillary costs of providing care rising (EMR, paperwork/reporting requirements, rent, utilities, equipment and supplies) the solution to keeping both patients and staff happy is not an easy one.