The Waiting Game — Why Providers May Fail to Reduce Wait Times

Ryu, Jaewon; Lee, Thomas H.

doi:10.1056/nejmp1704478

Cited by 23 publications

(22 citation statements)

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“…The increased demand for clinical cancer genetics services has influenced the ability to provide services timeously, negatively impacting appointment waiting times (McPherson et al 2008). Extended appointment waiting times in outpatient specialist clinics often result in patients not showing up (Mohamed et al 2016;Ryu and Lee 2017), resulting in a Tarryn Shaw and Julie Metras contributed equally to this work. larger proportion of patients not accessing beneficial services which may have otherwise positively impacted their health (Humphreys et al 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Appointment Waiting Time on Attendance Rates at a Clinical Cancer Genetics Service

Shaw

Metras

Ting

et al. 2018

Journal of Genetic Counseling

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The increase in demand for clinical cancer genetics services has impacted the ability to provide services timeously. Given limited resources, this often results in extended appointment waiting times. Over the last 3 years, the Cancer Genetics Service at the National Cancer Centre Singapore has continued to experience a steady increase in demand for its service. Nevertheless, significant no-show rates have been reported. This study sought to determine whether an association exists between appointment waiting times and attendance rates. Data was gathered for all participants meeting inclusion criteria. Attendance rates and appointment waiting times were calculated. The relationship between mean waiting times for those who did and did not attend their scheduled appointments was evaluated using Welch's t test and linear regression model. The results showed a significant difference in mean appointment waiting times between patients who did and did not attend (32.66 versus 43.50 days respectively; p < 0.0001). Furthermore, patients who waited for longer than 37 days were significantly less likely to attend. No-show rates increased as the waiting time increased, at a rate of 19.60% per 20 days and 21.40% per 30 days. In conclusion, appointment waiting time is a significant predictor for patient attendance. Strategies to ensure patients receive an appointment within the necessary timeframe at the desired setting are important to ensure that individuals at increased cancer risk attend their appointments in order to manage their cancer risks effectively.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Appointment Waiting Time on Attendance Rates at a Clinical Cancer Genetics Service

Shaw

Metras

Ting

et al. 2018

Journal of Genetic Counseling

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“…Scheduling practices affect delays. The difficulties in this area are well known . A central issue is matching capacities to demands.…”

Section: Sources Of Delaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The waiting times for the full spectrum of services needed for substance abuse treatment can be months or longer because, patients do not know which service they will need next until they get the results of the current service; patients often need a referral from the provider of the current service for the payer to approve the next service; services that are not highly reimbursed have longer waits, in the United States at least, eg, mental health services and the elderly with chronic diseases; and waiting times are increased by prioritization of highly reimbursed patients and underinvestment in capacities for poorly reimbursed services …”

Section: Sources Of Delaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…• waiting times are increased by prioritization of highly reimbursed patients and underinvestment in capacities for poorly reimbursed services. 10 The capacity and scheduling problems are immense, with the dire consequences outlined earlier. Siloed information systems and lack of incentives for integrated care exacerbate these problems.…”

Section: Scheduling Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The consequences of inadequate treatment of substance abuse illnesses are immense. The long waiting times, across the health care ecosystem, because of inadequate and poorly organized treatment capacities, increase the likelihood of patients avoiding or postponing treatment and result in a higher rate of missed appointments . Walker et al reported that mental disorders reduce life span by 10 years.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Service supply chains for population health: Overcoming fragmentation of service delivery ecosystems

Rouse

Johns

Pepe

2019

Learning Health Systems

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Introduction Population health involves integration of health, education, and social services to keep a defined population healthy, to address health challenges holistically, and to assist with the realities of being mortal. The fragmentation of the US population health delivery system is addressed. The impacts of this fragmentation on the treatment of substance abuse in the United States are considered. Innovations needed to overcome this fragmentation are proposed. Approach Treatment capacity issues, including scheduling practices, are discussed. Costs of treatment and lack of treatment are considered. Models of integrated care delivery are reviewed. Potential innovations from systems science, behavioral economics, and social networks are considered. The implications of these innovations are discussed in terms of information technology (IT) systems and governance. Conclusions Enormous savings are possible with more integrated treatment. Based on a range of empirical findings, it is argued that investments of these resources in integrated delivery of care have the potential to dramatically improve health outcomes, thereby significantly reducing the costs of population health.

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Timeliness of Care

Harder

Chu

2020

The Patient and Health Care System: Perspectives on High-Quality Care

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The Waiting Game — Why Providers May Fail to Reduce Wait Times

Cited by 23 publications

References 1 publication

Impact of Appointment Waiting Time on Attendance Rates at a Clinical Cancer Genetics Service

Impact of Appointment Waiting Time on Attendance Rates at a Clinical Cancer Genetics Service

Service supply chains for population health: Overcoming fragmentation of service delivery ecosystems

Timeliness of Care

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