Patient flow in the waiting roomHealthcare clinics are under great pressure to reduce costs and improve the quality of service. In recent years, healthcare organizations have focused on preventive medicine practices and sought to reduce the length of time patients stay in the hospital. Outpatient services have progressively become an essential component of healthcare. Organizations that fail to make their outpatient component cost-effective find themselves financially burdened in this ever-evolving industry (Caldwell, 2005). Patient wait times and congestion in outpatient waiting rooms are two challenges facing the healthcare industry. Survey results indicate that excessive waiting times are often the main reason for patient dissatisfaction with outpatient services. Wait times of 10 to 15 minutes are considered reasonable. Clinics are essentially queuing systems. These systems incorporate a unique set of conditions that must be considered when examining the appointment process. Patient flow is streamlined when scheduled patients arrive on time and a single doctor serves them within predefined processing times. The flow becomes more complicated when multiple doctors are involved or patients arrive late. Other factors that can complicate the flow include no-shows, walk-ins and emergencies. Additionally, doctors are sometimes delayed or interrupted later in the day by events not directly related to the medical consultation. The object of this process analysis is the flow of a patient established in the waiting room. The process begins when the patient walks through the door. If the receptionist is not helping another patient, he or she greets the patient who just entered. The patient waits in line to check in with the receptionist (he or she enters the arrival queue). Once the patient reaches the desk, the receptionist asks him if he has an appointment. If the patient has an appointment, the receptionist "arrives" the patient, which involves registering the patient in the computer system. Then, the receptionist checks the patient's demographic information, which takes approximately two (2) minutes. Next, the receptionist asks if the patient has insurance. If the patient has insurance, the receptionist collects his co-pay and asks him to sit and wait for his name to be called. If the patient does not have insurance, they are asked to fill out an eligibility waiver form (this takes five minutes), then they are asked to sit down. At this point the patient enters the Waiting Queue, which acts as a buffer for the next phase of the patient flow: the medical visit or the actual visit.