Improving patient waiting time at a pure walk-in clinic

Walk-in clinics have grown in popularity in the United States as a substitute for traditional medical care delivered in primary care clinics and emergency rooms. Walk-in clinics offer an affordable option for basic medical services when compared to a hospital emergency room or an urgent care clinic. This type of medical facility simplifies the health care process for many patients with non-life threatening conditions since no previous appointments are required to see a provider. However, the open access nature and lack of patient scheduling can lead to long wait times for patients or long periods of idle time for providers. In this paper, we derive a discrete event simulation model to study pure walk-in clinics where patients are served without appointments. A case study is discussed that considers a walk-in clinic located in central Texas. The computational study provides useful insights that are applicable to any walk-in health care facility.