patient scheduling

the medical informatics weblog just pointed to an interesting article on an adaptive sheduling package for doctor's offices produced by ibm:

It's many patients' pet peeve: Show up on time for a doctor's appointment, then wait well beyond the scheduled time to be seen. Not only is that wasted time for patients, it's inefficient for doctors trying to provide quality time and attention to each patient.

To help make medical scheduling more efficient, IBM and Florida International University said last week they're working together to develop advanced-scheduling software based on autonomic-computing technology. This emerging area aims to give systems "more self management," akin to the human autonomic nervous system, says David Kaminsky, a principal in IBM's autonomic-computing practice who is involved with the Florida International development work.
[...]
Determining a more accurate appointment start time is economically significant in hospital environments, says Dr. Niki Pissinou, a Florida International professor and director of its Telecommunication & Information Technology Institute. For instance, an MRI machine can be more efficiently used for patient tests if the scheduling process takes into account usage spikes, types of procedures, and how long a doctor might need to wait for the equipment between patients.

one doctor at the clinic i volunteered at told me that her biggest tech need is with her sheduling software...it will be interesting to see where this goes.