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Question: Our organization is hiring a practice manager who wants to switch our scheduling model to something called 鈥渢ime blocking.鈥� At the present time, we schedule individual appointments and accommodate patients as per availability. We also reserve a few daily appointment slots for urgent cases. Will this be beneficial to the patient?

Wyoming Subscriber

Answer: Time blocking can be useful if your practice has patients who run late to their appointments regularly. Sometimes 鈥渢ime blocking鈥� is also referred to as 鈥渂lock scheduling,鈥� and it involves scheduling several patients for the same block of time and seeing each patient in the order in which they arrive. It may also be beneficial to clarify the concept of block scheduling to patients as they schedule their appointments, so they can better understand that there might be a waiting period if several patients are booked to see the same healthcare provider at the start of the block.

While most patients anticipate a certain amount of waiting time at the doctor鈥檚 office, those who are extremely time-conscious might find block scheduling or time blocking especially frustrating, as it can lead to longer individual wait times for the patient. Setting expectations ahead of time can help lessen the frustration for the patient if your practice decides to make the switch to time blocking.

Lindsey Bush, BA, MA, CPC, Development Editor, AAPC