How to cure patient cancellations. Podcast with QueueDr CEO Patrick Randolph

[audio src="https://healthbb.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/hbdew058-david-e-williams-interviews-patrick-randolph-from-queuedoctor.mp3"][/audio]It takes an average of 24 days for a new patient to get an appointment with a doctor, up 30 percent since 2014. In Boston, it's 52 days! Physician schedules are full, and yet a significant percentage of appointments are canceled or patients just don't show up --costing doctors billions in revenue and depriving needy patients of appointments.These two things are related: with such a long wait the patient may either be cured on her own, go to the ED, die, or just forget about the visit.Patrick Rudolph saw an opportunity to do something about this problem and started QueueDr to simply and automatically offer patients a chance to fill those open slots. You can listen to him explain in our podcast:

1. (0:10) What problem are you addressing?
2. (0:58) Why do you think the problem is getting worse?
3. (2:25) Bad technology is a problem. What do you mean that your technology doesn't require anything of the user?
4. (3:44) What does it look like from the patient standpoint?
5. (4:54) One of your customers says your product works "too well." What is he talking about?
6. (5:58) Do you think this cancellation issue is a standalone solution or should it be a feature in a broader system?
7. (8:01) You're not the first one to address scheduling and cancellation as a challenge. How do you compare with other approaches?
8. (9:46) How would QueueDr work with a policy like charging patients who don't show up or introducing an open access schedule?
9. (11:58) Where will the company be five years from now?

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By healthcare business consultant David E. Williams, president of Health Business Group.