Dynamic overbooking scheduling system to improve patient access

Y Huang and P Zuniga
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Y Huang: New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA
P Zuniga: New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA

Journal of the Operational Research Society, 2012, vol. 63, issue 6, 810-820

Abstract: Patient no-show has long been a recognized problem in modern outpatient health-care delivery systems. The common impacts are reduced clinic efficiency and provider productivity, wasted medical resources, increased health-care cost and limited patient access to care. The main goal of this research is to develop an effective dynamic overbooking policy into any scheduling system that accounts for the predictive probability of no-shows for any given patient. This policy increases the quality of patient care in terms of wait time and access to care while minimizing the clinic's costs. This proposed model is also illustrated to be more cost-effective than overbooking patients evenly throughout a clinic session. This paper also suggests that overbooking should be performed at better patient flow and higher no-show rate so that the costs are minimized. Consequently, this research improves the outpatient experience for both patients and medical providers.

Date: 2012
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