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AbstractClinics that provide pediatric care are frequently confronted with family group appointment requests, where parents desire their children to be scheduled simultaneously or consecutively. This is potentially beneficial to the family by minimizing the number of trips to the provider’s office. However, offering prescheduled group appointments have the risk of reducing provider utilization, particularly if the entire group fails to meet their scheduled appointment. Similarly, reserving appointment slots for same day group appointment requests may also decrease utilization and impact profitability. This paper explores the impact of family group appointments on clinic performance in terms of provider utilization and profit. A finite-horizon, stochastic dynamic programming problem is presented to determine the optimal scheduling strategy given both individual and group appointment requests can be tactically accommodated via overbooking. On the basis of a computational study, we quantify the risk to clinic profitability and productivity resulting from the no-show behavior of prescheduled appointments. We also characterize the behavior of the optimal scheduling strategy as a function of prescheduled appointment allocations among the patient classes.

Clinics that provide pediatric care are frequently confronted with family group appointment requests, where parents desire their children to be scheduled simultaneously or consecutively. This is potentially beneficial to the family by minimizing the number of trips to the provider’s office. However, offering prescheduled group appointments have the risk of reducing provider utilization, particularly if the entire group fails to meet their scheduled appointment. Similarly, reserving appointment slots for same day group appointment requests may also decrease utilization and impact profitability. This paper explores the impact of family group appointments on clinic performance in terms of provider utilization and profit. A finite-horizon, stochastic dynamic programming problem is presented to determine the optimal scheduling strategy given both individual and group appointment requests can be tactically accommodated via overbooking. On the basis of a computational study, we quantify the risk to clinic profitability and productivity resulting from the no-show behavior of prescheduled appointments. We also characterize the behavior of the optimal scheduling strategy as a function of prescheduled appointment allocations among the patient classes.

Much of the appointment-scheduling literature has characterized the impact of no-show rates with respect to individual appointment requests. However, little is known about the impact of appointments that are grouped by household. This study is concerned with understanding the prevalence of these family group appointments and identifying the appointment characteristics that significantly influence no-show rates. Using historical data from one public and one private pediatric clinic, multiway frequency analysis is used to characterize the association between appointment characteristics and appointment size. A logistic regression model is also developed to identify the factors that contribute to no-show rates for both clinics. The results of the study indicate that more than one-third of the appointments scheduled by both clinics were associated with batch appointment requests. In addition, no-show rates for batch appointments in the public clinic were higher than those of the private clinic. We identify appointment size as a significant predictor in determining no-show rates for both public and private clinics. Since no-show rates adversely impact clinic efficiency, scheduling coordinators should consider the impact of grouping-related appointments when determining how to best allocate resources.

AbstractMuch of the appointment-scheduling literature has characterized the impact of no-show rates with respect to individual appointment requests. However, little is known about the impact of appointments that are grouped by household. This study is concerned with understanding the prevalence of these family group appointments and identifying the appointment characteristics that significantly influence no-show rates. Using historical data from one public and one private pediatric clinic, multiway frequency analysis is used to characterize the association between appointment characteristics and appointment size. A logistic regression model is also developed to identify the factors that contribute to no-show rates for both clinics. The results of the study indicate that more than one-third of the appointments scheduled by both clinics were associated with batch appointment requests. In addition, no-show rates for batch appointments in the public clinic were higher than those of the private clinic. We identify appointment size as a significant predictor in determining no-show rates for both public and private clinics. Since no-show rates adversely impact clinic efficiency, scheduling coordinators should consider the impact of grouping-related appointments when determining how to best allocate resources.

Conflicts of Interest: Confirmatory test kits were supplied by Ora-sure Technologies. Gilead Sciences prodded a training grant.