Most medical practices handle demand from patients and other sources with traditional scheduling systems. 

These systems (with minor variations) work on similar principles:

• Lay out a practice visit calendar to represent patient visits scheduled on any given day. The front desk staff typically administer this, or sometimes if the volume merits it, specific scheduling staff. 
• Establish a staff hours roster, where all staff (but especially providers) layout the hours they wish to work on what days.
• Establish a set of guiding protocols and rules whereby patients are scheduled
• If no capacity exists when a patient requests it, that patient is put off to another open slot, typically days or weeks into the future. 

This is the root cause of waiting lists, which in our experience have universally extended into not just weeks, but months for patients to be seen for routine appointments. 

At Bryan Research, we have spent the better part of 25 years figuring out a better way. Taking the robust analytical toolset from Six Sigma and Statistical Process Control, we developed a method for measuring and analyzing demand which has been deployed in many clients now. 

Understanding demand is the first step to segmenting it and establishing sets of operating protocols which imprint adaptability into your practice. This chart represents demand on a fictitious practice for 2019 and the first weeks of 2020. We teach how to construct the chart, how to interpret it, how to systematize it in your practice management system and how to enable managers and owners to utilize it as a central component of your demand management system. 

Results can be astonishing. Patient wait lists can be reduced by 90%, and eventually get to the holy grail of open scheduling. If this interests you, please don't hesitate to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (802) 870 3433 for a complementary initial discussion. 

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