A SIMULATION STUDY OF APPOINTMENT SCHEDULING RULES, ROLE OF PATIENT CLASSIFICATION ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON AMBULATORY CARE PERFORMANCE

摘要

The current climate in health care industry is typified by ever-increasing demands for efficiency, and simultaneous demands for patient satisfaction. One vital point at which these two demands intersect is the scheduling of ambulatory care visits. This paper investigates interactions among patient classification, patient sequencing, appointment scheduling rules, and environmental factors on patient and doctorrelated measures. Results indicate that patient sequencing has a greater effect on ambulatory care performance than the choice of an appointment rule, and that environmental factors such as walk-ins, no-shows, patient punctuality, and overall session volume, affect performance, and the ultimate selection of an appointment system.