Is your staff having difficulty finding room in the clinic schedule for new patients, same day, next day or within the week?

If so, and new patients are being scheduled weeks out or longer, there is a good chance they aren’t showing up (they found someone to treat them sooner, they performed bathroom surgery and feel better for now, or they got busy and decided to live with the problem).

Many podiatrists have heard me speak about the art of scheduling and my great regard for the two-column appointment calendar. This involves one column for established patients/follow up appointments and a second for new patients, scheduled in either 30 or 45-minute increments (think back to my theory about appropriate allotment of time for thorough visits/time in treatment chair, not just the doctor’s time in the room).

Two-column scheduling allows for a healthy volume of new patients (at least 20%) without overwhelming staff or doctors. Well-defined appointment slots combined with basic scheduling rules (no double booking of procedures and no new patients first in the morning or after lunch) make for an efficient and productive clinic day road map.

Here is a graphic example of a two-column schedule (morning only) and below are the words of a previously skeptical staff member!  Give it a try and thank me later.