A Family Doctor Considers Double-Booking Patients

Many physicians have been doing this for a long time, actually scheduling software allows for 4 patients to be scheduled at the same time if needed....BD

Benjamin Brewer, family doc and WSJ.com columnist, has a problem. The guy is up to his ears in patients, yet nearly every day he finds himself idled by patient no-shows.
Brewer writes in his latest column that a recent study found doctors increase the efficiency of their practice by double-booking appointments, in the same way that airlines oversell seats. Just as a commercial jet flies even when some passengers don’t check in, the “overhead meter for the office keeps running whether patients show up or not.”