Slate on Operational Research in a medical environment

The road to reform is called “open access” (or “advanced access” or “same-day scheduling”). Dozens of papers have been published showing how practices around the country have done it, starting in 2000, when Dr. Mark Murray and colleague Catherine Tantau wrote about their experience of reducing the wait at a Kaiser Permanente clinic near Sacramento from 55 days to just one. Since then, clinics in Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, and elsewhere have similarly cut down patients’ waiting times. The Palo Alto Medical Foundation offers same-day appointments, as does the Veterans Administration, the Mayo Clinic, and even some solo physicians.