Appointment Zen - shaping demand and matching capacity

Background: Ten years of experience with hundreds of general practices in the Australian Primary Care Collaboratives program has provided many lessons for improving practice appointment systems. Objective: In this article, we describe how general practitioners can, by actively managing our appointment systems, reduce waiting times and delays, improve patient care, improve our quality of life and improve practice financial viability. Discussion: Demand is finite and predictable. We can shape our demand by influencing when, why and for whom people make appointments. We can change our daily appointment numbers and our team capacity to match our reshaped demand. Contingency plans for expected and unexpected drops in capacity can prevent appointment backlogs. Embedding and monitoring our demand and capacity management can help ensure smooth flow of patients through the practice with good care and improved staff and patient satisfaction.