subject: Information For A Medical Practice Manager About Wait Times [print this page] A few days ago a friend relayed his story about a recent doctor visit to me. It seemed to be an important point to make for a practice manager about customer service. This friend had a scheduled follow-up appointment with a specialist in town for test results. He stated his appointment time was for 2:30 pm and he arrived right on time. The lobby was full of patients.
To the credit of this practice my friend stated the office itself was very pleasing to the eye and the staff for all five providers was friendly and helpful. However, no amount of friendliness can excuse the wait time this patient endured for this routine follow-up visit.
He stated he waited in the lobby for slightly over an hour before being called back to the patient room. The doctor he was to see was running behind the nurse said. Her comment to him was one of apology, but also explanation. It appears the provider was "in the back dictating" and someone "had to tell him to get out here because he had patients to see." Even though it is probably not correct to be so blunt with the patient, the honesty was appreciated.
My friend stated this provider is supposedly good at his specialty and came highly recommended for treatment. Nevertheless, at this point that did not matter because he was getting tired of waiting for him regardless of his talent. When the provider entered the patient's room after another hour of waiting for him, my friend told him he was "falling asleep" from waiting so long. He told me that he had lost interest in why he was even there. The doctor said he "apologized for the wait," but indicated that with all the changes in the healthcare industry it would probably not make the wait any better in the future.
I asked my friend what he was feeling about this experience and he said that he felt his time had been devalued by this provider. He said he was wondering if they had a practice manager observing this process. He stated that in other service professions when you make an appointment there is a window of time that is acceptable and if the service technician is delayed beyond that time you are rewarded for extensive wait time or discounted in some way. Most of the time service technicians are driving around in traffic so a wait might even be warranted. This is not so in the doctor's office. There are typically no discounts for waiting beyond acceptable timeframes; and most of the time the provider is in the building.
This friend did state that he does not like it when the doctor has "one hand on the doorknob" while he is talking to you as if to be running from you. He also does not want to be paying for nothing. This provider did give him a lengthy explanation of his tests and provided ample time for questions. Other than the wordiness of the discussion on the doctor's part, he was left in the dark as to why he had to wait so long when he had a set appointment time. He said he finally left the office at 5:05 pm.
This story got me thinking about other industries. Would a person wait for two hours for a massage if they had an appointment time? I tried to think of the most luxurious service to see if I would even wait that long for treatment or service. The answer was a resounding "no" to this ridiculous question. It is one thing to be booked solid and another to just disregard time altogether. My friend is right; there should be a discount, coupon or gift card for exorbitant wait times for a physician. Another alternative is to leave the schedule open and make it first come first serve if you cannot adhere to time constraints.
Most people will understand a delay of some kind, but making delays a routine is not acceptable in the service industry. In fact it is disrespectful of another person's time. As a practice manager there is a responsibility to providers to adequately manage the practice. However, there is also a responsibility to provide good service so that patients are pleased and will return. Medical practices will most likely begin to see the effects of poor customer service much like other small businesses in the days ahead.
