Increasing office efficiency decreases waiting room time

More doctors are looking for ways to shorten the amount of time patients spend waiting to be seen.

By Cheryl Jackson, amednews staff. Oct. 7, 2002.

Beth Deutch, MD, gave a lot of thought to wait time before opening HerSpace Breast Imaging Associates, a fee-for-service practice for breast imaging in West Long Branch, N.J., last summer. The diagnostic radiologist put in a waterfall with alcove seating. She gave it a living room feel. She wanted a calming, welcoming atmosphere. And she wanted patients to spend as little time there as possible.

"I think there is the feeling that their time is less important than the physician's time and the staff's time," Dr. Deutch said. As a timesaving measure, HerSpace Breast Imaging Associates will offer forms online so that patients can download them and have them filled out before they arrive at the office.

"The industry is becoming more and more aware of waiting as a problem," said Charles M. Kilo, MD, MPH, an internist and infectious disease specialist with the Greenfield Health System in Portland, Ore. "The current system was really set up around physicians' needs. It's disrespectful. People are busy."

Recently, health plans and employers have taken steps to make customer satisfaction a bigger factor in how they pay for the care of patients, which can influence how many patients a physician sees from particular plans.

But any lengthening in wait times is something physicians lay at the doorstep of managed care, saying its restrictions have slowed up the process of caring for patients, while their low pay requires doctors to see a greater volume of patients to maintain income levels. "The fact is that physicians are needing to see many more patients a day than they used to in order to maintain income and keep the business viable," Dr. Deutch said. [...]

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