Setting hours is a critically important aspect for any pediatric practice to be successful. Patients and families consider availability and accessibility just as important as quality of care and health insurance participation. It should be part of the practice’s marketing plan, particularly when building a practice. Decisions will need to be made on what type of scheduling a practice will implement. The greatest mistake is to pick a location without understanding what will be needed to be successful in that location. The best way to gain community support is to take care of the community. One way to do this is to ensure that patients and families are able to access the care they need when they need it.
Most pediatricians go into practice with the idea of balancing work and family time. Ideally, the decision about office hours should be part of a market analysis, done as the first step in assessing and selecting the community and location in which to practice, not after commitments have been made on practice location and space. Quality of care provided, and availability are major determinants in the practice’s success. Several things to consider when setting office hours include:
- The style of practice desired, and if you have a family, what your family can accept: It is critical that the family unit have appropriate expectations, a full understanding of what is being undertaken, and a realistic estimate of the effort needed to succeed.
- Competition in the surrounding community: If there are no other pediatricians in your community, there may be more flexibility in how hours are set. On the other hand, this might not be possible in highly competitive areas. That might mean expanded hours or night, evening, and weekend hours, which would require more work time.
- The resources that exist for coverage: What type of coverage options exist, and are there some mutually beneficial coverage arrangements that can be made?
- What are the community resources? Are there local retail-based clinics, urgent care centers, or after-hours centers? Do they see children? Are cooperative working agreements possible?
- Understand the community needs—socioeconomic, prior health care availability, customs, and traditions.
The most common scheduling methodologies are fixed appointments and modified wave scheduling. These formats apply to the timing of appointment scheduling. There are also open access and modified open access—these apply to the style of scheduling. See below for more details.
In the sample schedule below, office hours would essentially be Monday through Friday from 8:00 am until 5:00 pm (last appointment, 4:30 pm). As the practice develops, the schedule can be modified. As partners, nurse practitioners, or physician assistants (PAs) are added, the schedule can be further modified.
Last Updated
07/30/2021
Source
American Academy of Pediatrics