By Andrii Kucherenko1 min read
Waiting time,measured
HealthcareAnalytics
Healthcare KPI - Waiting Time
How to measure appointment waiting time, why it moves together with the cancellation rate, and what to do when it grows.
This indicator shows how long your clients have to wait for an appointment. Watching this indicator compared to the cancellation rate is essential, as these two frequently go together.
How to calculate
In its simplest form, calculate the days between the booking and appointment dates. You may build the overall indicator for the practice, but it may be too general. Instead, consider calculating it separately for different service types, locations, providers, etc.
Compare it tocancellations. If they correlate, and longer waiting time increases the chances of cancellation, analyze how much impact on your business they have and what you can do about it.
What to do
You may consider growing your practice and inviting additional providers if the impact is substantial. However, this decision may not be easy and require careful planning.
Implementation of anautomated waiting listmay be an alternative.
Suppose you have a long waiting time and frequent cancellations. Why not inform people at the end of the queue about the possibility of rescheduling it for an earlier time when a newcancellationoccurs? It may mitigate the impact of cancellations on your practice and decrease the waiting time.