Solo Practice
Greenbrook Family Medicine
Portland, OR · 1 physician, 3 staff
Presenting Problem
A single-physician internal medicine practice with a 34% no-show rate and a provider spending 3.1 hours per day in the EHR after clinic hours. The physician had tried two scheduling software switches in 18 months. Neither touched the underlying problem: appointment slot design was misaligned with actual visit-type demand, and EHR note templates had never been configured for the practice's actual patient mix.
Diagnostic Assessment
Slot structure was built for a theoretical patient rather than the actual panel. 62% of visits were follow-up chronic care appointments being booked into new-patient slots. Rooming sequences had five unnecessary steps. The physician was documenting from memory at end-of-day rather than at point-of-care.
Intervention Protocol
- Redesigned 4-week appointment template based on 18 months of actual visit-type data
- Rebuilt EHR note templates with pre-populated chronic condition frameworks
- Introduced same-day hold slots to absorb acute demand without disrupting schedule
- Implemented rooming checklist that pre-stages chart before physician entry
Measured Outcomes
I'd been blaming myself for being slow. Turns out my templates were fighting me every single visit.
Dr. Sarah Whitfield
Family Medicine, Portland