Appointments For The Health Care System

Broken appointments represent a cost to us, to you and to other patients who could have been seen in the time that we set aside for your medical appointments (Smith, 2009). We request that cancellations be between 24-48 hours prior to your scheduled appointment (Smith, 2009). We have the right to charge for missed or late cancellation appointments (Smith, 2009). Excessive abuse of your scheduled appointments can result in you been discharged from Fairview Medical Associates (Brooks, 2003).

“No-shows” are very common within the medical field. A MA can take certain measures that can help to prevent “no-shows”, such as reminder phone calls and allowing patients to use open access scheduling. However, when a “no-show” does occur documentation is the most important step of the scheduling process. Failure to document no shows can be a liability factor for the practice, especially for the physician. If the medical assistant does not document the no-show and the patient comes into further harm, the patient can sue the practice for patient neglect (). When a no-show does occur it is important that the incident is properly document and the MA should even be required to reach out to the patient for a cause of the no-show. This step can

Regina’s story was sad and indicates that the healthcare delivery system is fragmented; either a patient does not have access to his or her complete medical record or physicians do not have access to the entire record, which can significantly affect patient care. Regina was told that she had to pay 73 cents per page, and the wait time to receive the record would be 21-days. Facilities that print the record can charge the requester a fee to cover the cost of the materials and the labor, and the facility sets the turnaround time. However, the HIM department must prioritize the processing of the release of information, and continuity of care requests must be processed before the other types of requests. Regina’s husband was in a critical situation,

Of the 147 surveys 44% admit to missing appointments, 53% admit to never having transportation issues, 42% admit to never forgetting an appointment, 60% admit to never having issues related to personal jobs, 43% admit they have never had issues with funding, 44% admit that they never have an issue with the length of appointment times, 71% admit owning a personal vehicle, 18% admitted to using rides for appointment access, and 72% admit a bus stop is near their home.

Goal #1: MHS has kept all medical appointments as schedule. MHS provides Juliet with daily medication as prescribed by the medical team. Juliet’s risk for aspiration is no longer a concern and no longer needs the G-tub feeding. Juliet tolerates drinking whole milk from a bottle and safety cup. Juliet will receive weekly Physical Therapy to build leg strength for standing and walking. MHS provides a nurturing home for Juliet. Juliet will continue this goal.

To highlight the information in table 1, note that the total amount of arrived appointments are increasing each fiscal year. The focus clinics for this capstone are allergy and nephrology; both clinics overall no show rate either decreased or remain the same for each fiscal year. Please note, that the adjusted no show rates are not reflected in the appointment volume information and rates listed below. The data from the EDW and CUBES does not provide the adjusted no show rate.

Although there is a proved relation in the second data-table, it cannot be concluded whether this is through correlation or causation. There is also a need to consider patient demographics. The article No-Shows to Primary Care Appointments Why Patients Do Not Come, found that patients that younger patients

After adjusting for patient and clinical characteristics, the hospital-level admission rate varied from 27% to 41% and the physician level, admission rates varied from 21% to 49% (Abualenain, et al., 2013). Similarly, Gutterman, J.J., Lundberg, S.R., Scheib, G.P., Richman, M.J., Wang, C-J., & Talan, D.A. (2016) found highly variable admission rates (15.2-32%). Although these correlated to Medicaid denied payment day rates, the variance was unexplained by known confounding clinical variables and unrelated to the quality of care. Interestingly, attending physician estimates of their admission rate ranged from 7-33% with 71% overestimating and 24 % under estimating their own admission rate and there was no significant correlation between actual and self-described admission

Patients are having difficulty making their appointments for several reasons. The American College of Physician’s (ACP) Center for Practice Improvement & Innovation addresses this problem in a recent survey and offers solutions to make it easier for patients to schedule an appointment.

Medications and medical appointments. Another intervention the case manager would need to address would be to connect the individual with services that can ensure the individual can receive the necessary medications such as HAART. HAART is a cocktail of medications customized to each infected individual’s viral load and that individuals with HIV must take every day to stave off the progression of AIDS (“What Is HAART?,” 2012). The individual is more likely to continue HIV/AIDS treatment if they are not having to constantly struggle to obtain said treatment.

Public hospitals are notorious for extended wait times at clinics. This has led patients who can afford to prefer private clinics where they are seen on an appointment basis. The wait times at private clinics is considered shorter though not the best at all times, than that in public clinics. Patients who may not afford visiting private clinics are left with no choice but to attend public hospitals.

The longer an individual maintains his/her health, the longer one is able to live. To do so, the health care industry plays a monumental role in every aspect of an individual being able to maintain one’s wellbeing. Looking at the words singly; health refers to the absence of disease, while care is the attention and treatment given to the breakdown of any body system due to sickness.

This study is built on the limited amount of literature on patient satisfaction and volume of admissions (Messina et al., 2009).

In the past few years, hospitals across the country have advertised emergency room “reservation” systems to provide access to care year round regardless of the doctor’s office appointment availability. I believe this confirms my opinion that there is truly more supply of care in the medical profession than the actual demand. While it may seem backwards that there is more supply of care when considering the scarcity of open appointment times at doctor’s offices, there are still medical staff in the hospital and other outpatient care facilities that are not necessarily being utilized to their full potential. According to the indifference curve, many people would be satisfied with convenient care at a low cost by scheduling an appointment through their primary physician. However, this is not always possible. Even though individuals would prefer seeing their primary care physician for almost any ailment or condition, sometimes that is not possible. If individuals are involved in accidents or require immediate medical attention they require the care of an outpatient clinic or emergency room physician to return to normal activities and become healthy again. Though they prefer the care of their primary physician due to the fact that the patient has probably been to them for almost any checkup or health emergency, they would still accept the care of the emergency room team, given their level of satisfaction with the care provider is as high as