How long does an average medical appointment take?

Medical appointments can differ in length depending on the healthcare issues needing assessment. So, ensuring they are long enough for proper evaluation is crucial. You don't want to miss critical information in health appointments or take more time to prevent wasting time you could use to see other patients.

A Harvard study compiling results from the American Time Use Survey found that the average appointment duration was 121 minutes, including travel, waiting, and paying, with only 20 minutes spent seeing a doctor (Ducharme, 2015).

Many healthcare companies, such as Carepatron, offer advanced software to guide you toward effective appointment scheduling and ensure you and your patients get the most out of your sessions. However, we also want to help consolidate your understanding of health and telehealth appointment scheduling and the factors that go into it.

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What should be considered when determining how much time is needed for a patient's appointment?

Surprisingly, numerous factors affect the length of healthcare appointments and can affect how you book appointments. While the exact content of the appointment doesn't matter to its length, other aspects can influence length, including:

Patient volume targets

The average number of patients seen in a day often determines the number and length of appointments booked. Knowing these statistics means you can effectively schedule an appropriate number of patients and determine how long appointments must be to accommodate the clients.

Patient cooperation

Having cooperative patients who work with you to get solutions will likely have shorter appointment times. They are much more productive, and working together smoothens out any potential issues that may arise.

Type of illness

Although appointment length doesn't strongly correlate to the patient's condition, this still can affect length in some cases. Occasionally, the practitioner may vary the time for patients with severe problems or who present health issues that aren't particularly important.

Resources and facilities

If the resources aren't available, appointments can take longer than usual. More time and effort are spent finding out the patient's needs and testing for their health issue.

How to reduce healthcare appointment wait times for patients

Wait times are significant for healthcare practices, as a longer one can lead to patients switching to another healthcare practice. They're not unusual either, with the average wait time for clinician practices being 20 minutes and hospitals being 17 minutes. It doesn't feel nice to wait around and not feel prioritized, especially regarding health, so you must consider how to make wait times as short as possible.

Increased patient care access

Opening more avenues to see patients can significantly reduce wait times. Half of the time, there aren't enough appointments available or doctors free to see patients, so this should be the center of your focus. Training medical professionals, regardless of specialty, to treat common medical conditions and educate patients on when to be seen can prevent unnecessary appointments for non-urgent healthcare matters. Digital appointment scheduling can also allow more patients to book themselves and be able to book same-day appointments.

Pre-registration

Patient pre-registration can improve business organization and prevent backlogs in the daily schedule. Contacting patients beforehand to request essential contact information such as email addresses, phone numbers, insurance provider information, and medical history information can save time that could be spent on other patients.

Information transparency

So, nothing always goes perfectly to plan, and this is no different in the healthcare sector. Patients value healthcare services' ability to adapt. This includes prioritizing patients who may have been waiting a while and being very clear about the information presented to them. If patients know precisely what is expected and the standard of care, the appointment wait time can be significantly reduced.

Appointment scheduling in healthcare: Challenges and opportunities

Appointment scheduling in healthcare can be exciting, as it poses various challenges and opportunities for healthcare clinics. To name a few, these can include:

Patient wait times

As discussed, patient wait times can prove challenging when many patients are to be seen, and various factors must be controlled to ensure efficient wait times. But not to worry! Patient wait times provide an exciting chance for you to transition to medical technology that schedules patients effectively and efficiently, preventing any overcrowding or double-booking.

Late cancelations and no-shows

Cancellations and patients who do not show up can be frustrating, as your healthcare practice costs time and money to accommodate this. You also want to have a high retention rate with your patients, not only for the success of your business but to build healthcare relationships with your patients. This can be overcome with schedule reminding software, so patients don't forget and know in advance when their appointment is.

Resource allocation

Appointment scheduling can be based on the patient's diagnosis or healthcare needs and the resources required to treat or assess the patient. Availability matters and it can be difficult if multiple patients with the same condition require the same testing and if there are limited resources.

Patient preferences

Patients may prefer specific methods over others, such as telehealth appointments or online billing instead of paper. It can be challenging to meet all these needs, but with strategic planning, your practice can diversify and offer a variety of features to meet demand.

Effectively scheduling healthcare appointments with scheduling software

Appointment scheduling software is the perfect way to address multiple common scheduling issues at once, and it's also one of the most commonly used methods by healthcare practices. Many healthcare platforms, such as Carepatron, focus on creating software for healthcare businesses with this very purpose: to make appointment scheduling easy to use and increase efficiency within your practice.

Online appointment scheduling software allows clients to make appointments at any time of day without inquiring on the phone, which can take time. The self-service is user-friendly, doesn't require additional installments or server technology expertise, and is customizable. Flexibility to your business's needs is valuable and allows you to have a smoother, more integrated platform. You can also ensure full-service maximization with multiple payment options to prioritize patient care and needs.

Appointment scheduling software also provides free reminders so patients can be reminded of their upcoming appointments. This significantly reduces the likelihood of no-shows and cancellations, which, if accumulated, can be costly for your healthcare practice. Patients can also easily view in advance when their appointments are, with options to reschedule if needed. It's a win-win situation.

Final thoughts

Various factors go into appointment scheduling, which can influence your appointment length. In addition, appointment scheduling can create different challenges and benefits for your practice, which can be a daunting and fascinating prospect.

Here at Carepatron, we offer the best health software for teams. We know the importance of efficient appointment scheduling to see as many people that need help as possible, in addition to optimizing staff expertise—using an advanced appointment scheduling software such as ours can provide immense benefits and equip you with the resources to be able to avoid double-booking, overcrowding, long wait times, as well as cancellations and no-shows. It's the easiest way to manage appointments and provide a high standard of care for your patients.

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Further reading:

Reference

Ducharme, J. (2015, October 12). Harvard research says the average medical visit takes 121 minutes. Boston Magazine; Boston Magazine. https://www.bostonmagazine.com/health/2015/10/12/doctors-appointment-length/