The open-access medical office - Seeing patients when they want to be seen helps you respond to their needs and stay competi

The open-access medical office - Seeing patients when they want to be seen helps you respond to their needs and stay competitive. - Medical Economics: "How important is open access? It's one of the seven core components of the medical office of the future as envisioned by TransforMED, a practice redesign initiative of the American Academy of Family Physicians. If you want more proof, witness the burgeoning growth of retail clinics and urgent care centers that patients can visit at the drop of a hat. For medical practices to compete, they'll need to be just as convenient.

Beyond delighting patients with quick service, open-access scheduling produces a cascade of other benefits. Chief among them are a steep reduction in no-shows and cancellations (the further out you schedule patients, the higher the risk that they'll skip or cancel) and improved continuity of care (rather than be shoehorned into the schedule of any clinician who's available, acutely ill patients are far more likely to see their own physician)."