Practice Metrics

How Long Do Patients Wait for You After Pre-Test?

An initial screening was given with a technician prior to the full eye examination with the eye doctor for just over half (52.5 percent) of the respondents to Jobson Optical Research’s The Waiting Game report. Of those who had an initial screening, 67.3 percent were sent directly to the exam room, but 30.1 percent were sent back to the waiting room to continue to wait for the doctor.

There are three key points in this research that we can apply to our practices.

POINT 1
In the medical world, the patient is seen by a nurse or an assistant to gather information before the patient sees the doctor. The doctor is usually in another room seeing another patient. According to the Jobson Optical Research, just over half of eye doctors practice this way.

Do you follow this model? In the managed care world in which we live, you need to become more of a data analyzer and less of a data gatherer. In other words, you cannot afford to hire yourself to do screening tests on patients when you can hire someone else at a lower wage to do the same work.

POINT 2
After pre-testing, about 1/3 of the patients were sent back to the “waiting” room. Never call this area the waiting room. Who likes to wait? I know I don’t. Instead, call this area the reception area.

POINT 3
There is a flow problem when the patient is moving backward instead of forward during an office visit. A move from the reception area to pre-testing and back to the reception area is a problem. To resolve this problem, create a flow chart with time spent at each stop as patients move through your office. Try to make each “stop” the same length of time so that you do not have backward moves or log–jams.

With some thought, you can improve your patient flow. The better your flow, the better the patient experience. In today’s world, patients are looking for an excellent experience. If they do not find it in your office, then odds are they will talk to their friends and find it somewhere else. Fix this problem today!

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