An Appointment Planning Algorithm for Reducing Patient Check-In Waiting Times in Multispecialty Outpatient Clinics

Long waiting times are a major reason for patient dissatisfaction in outpatient clinics. Existing research in patient scheduling has established the relationship between the number of providers and patient waiting times. However, no research has explored the problem by considering patient flow through multiple stages with multiple servers. In this paper, a Multispecialty Outpatient Clinic Appointment Planning Algorithm (MOCAPA) is developed. The goal of the planning algorithm is to reduce patient check-in waiting times in multispecialty clinics by exploring the patient interaction with multiple stages in the system (i.e., the clinic front desk and the providers). The paper results show that in a multi-stage outpatient clinic, patient waiting times can be reduced by (1) classifying patients according to their status at the clinic (i.e., new vs. existing ) and (2) balancing the patient type ratio of arrivals per appointment time period.