Enhancing the Performance of Patient Appointment Scheduling: Outcomes of an Automated Waitlist Process to Improve Patient Wait Times for Appointments.

Abstract

Introduction: Online self-scheduling of medical appointments is increasingly common. An automated waitlist can be used for patients who desire an earlier appointment time if one becomes available after they are scheduled. Our study examines outcomes of an automated waitlist and self-rescheduling process.

Methods: We studied outcomes of an automated waitlist self-rescheduling process in which patients with existing appointments elected to be placed on an automated waitlist for an earlier appointment offer. When software found earlier dates for the same visit type, patients were then notified through an automated process and could self-reschedule. We reviewed appointments for which patients were sent new offers when earlier appointment slots were found. We compared the accepted appointment offers with the original scheduled appointments and determined the number of days that the appointment had been moved up.

Results: Spanning the calendar year 2023 there were 1 019 698 appointment offers generated by an automated waitlist process for 229 998 appointments and sent to 164 248 patients. The waitlist process automatically found open appointments as they became available and sent the first new appointment offer within 2 days after being placed on the waitlist for 74 736 (32.5%) of the 229 998 waitlisted appointments. Patients sent back at least 1 response for 104 554 (45.4%) of the waitlisted appointments. Of the responses, 56 636 accepted one of the sent offers for an accept rate of 24.6% (56 636/229 998). For accepted, moved-up visits, appointments were self-rescheduled earlier by a mean of 22.6 days (95%CI; 22.2, 22.9, P < .0001).

Conclusion: New appointments can be successfully self-rescheduled using an automated waitlist process that allows patients to accept or decline new appointment offers. This process can increase the efficiency of scheduling and decrease appointment wait time for patients desiring more timely access to healthcare. In addition, this process can be successfully applied across several different appointment type categories.