Patients can now self-schedule new and follow-up visits with specialists

The days of calling to schedule appointments are nearly over. Patients can now self-schedule some new and follow-up clinic visits for Internal Medicine specialties, thanks to the Patient Contact Center (PCC).

The UC Davis Health specialties include Allergy/Immunology, Endocrinology, Infectious Disease, Nephrology, and Rheumatology.

According to a Press Ganey survey, 63% of patients want to schedule appointments digitally instead of calling an office. When patients digitally self-schedule their visits, missed appointment rates are lower.

Epic’s tools allow patients to self-schedule appointments online through web and mobile devices, with MyChart.

UC Davis Health’s initial results are positive. When tickets are sent to patients, they schedule 17% of follow-up appointments and 46% of new appointments online via MyChart. The industry average sees 15-20% of visits self-scheduled; across UC Davis Health, 3.5% of appointments are patient self-scheduled.

Self-scheduled appointments typically take about one minute, compared to 7.2 minutes on average for phone scheduling with staff—usually after multiple attempts to reach patients. This represents a huge time savings for both patients and the health system.

Ticket scheduling helps UC Davis Health meet patients’ demand and eliminates the need for clinics to monitor patient callback lists. The PCC team works with each clinic to determine the appropriate parameters for new and follow-up visits.

Giving patients the ability to self-schedule improves patient satisfaction, lowers missed appointment rates, and improves efficiency for the health system.