Open Access Scheduling

Next week I will be posting a two part interview with Dr. Jeffrey Steinbauer, Medical Director, Baylor Clinic, Houston, Texas and former Director of the Family Practice Unit. Dr. Steinbauer instituted open-access scheduling in 2003 and has published the results of his clinics implementation.

Countries around the world are identifying primary care access as one of the major hurdles to health care reform. In the US, reform will increase the demand on primary care and in Canada primary care access has been a problem for the past 10 years.

Open-access schedules have been touted as one possible solution to the influx of people seeking primary care. I wanted to get Dr. Steinbauer's impression of the benefits and pit-falls to open-access and compare it to block booking.