In the outpatient setting, health care practices’ inability to routinely align provider capacity with patient demand for services results in both system stress and widespread waste and inefficiency. Long wait times, lack of access, patient and physician dissatisfaction, delayed care, cancellations, and underutilization of existing resources all can be attributed in large measure to poor management of patient flow, and specifically to how practices schedule patient appointments.

IHO approaches are scientifically grounded and have been successfully applied to outpatient and primary care clinics with dramatic financial and quality of care improvements. The benefits of Outpatient and Primary Care Clinic Patient Flow Optimization include:

  • Reduced waiting times and improved overall access for patients
  • Reduced delays and cancellations of scheduled appointments
  • Reduced physician overload and overtime
  • Greater patient throughput (i.e., increase in overall patient volume) without adding resources
  • Proper allocation of resources (e.g., exam room and nurse practitioner staffing)
  • Improvements in patient safety and quality of care
  • Improvements in doctor, nurse, and patient satisfaction
  • Reductions in waste and cost
  • Increased revenue