New appointment model for UG Public Health department

Starting Monday, Jan. 5, 2009, both Family Planning and Pediatric Clinics of the Unified Government’s Public Health Department will switch to an “open access” model to schedule patient appointments, the department announced Thursday.

Rather than make appointments for routine check-ups and care, weeks or months in advance, open access scheduling offers patients an appointment that day or the next day the clinic is open.

“The goals of the open access model are to decrease the no-show rate, create a more predictable clinic flow, increase patient numbers and improve both staff and patient satisfaction,” Terrie Garrison, Health Manager for pre-natal and family planning programs, said in the release. “It will also allow patients to gain access to a birth control method when they are motivated to get on a method.”

This scheduling model, according to the release, is designed to “do today’s work today.” The department says there will still be future appointments, but those will be deliberate choices usually made by an examiner. There will also be simplified appointments, both in time allotted and type of appointment permitted.

In a traditional scheduling model, routine appointments fill the schedule and patients with urgent needs are squeezed in, resulting in long wait times for routine appointments and high no-show rates. Patients are sometimes double or triple booked to accommodate for the high no show rate and on those days when the no show rate is good, the department says its staff are left scrambling.

“Staff time is also saved with phone triage and reminder phone calls with the new model,” Melanie Vogts, program head for Child Health and Kansas Healthy Start, said. “Even with reminder phone calls now, the current pediatric clinic no show rate is 52 percent.

“You want to aim for a no show rate of less than 10 percent. Obviously, we are hoping for an improvement on this.”

To make an appointment for services at the health department, or for more information on the new appointment program, call the Family Planning Department at (913) 573-6706 or the Pediatrics Department at (913) 573-6710.