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If you've ever tried to schedule a follow-up visit with a doctor, you know what can happen: You sit on hold, then learn that the earliest available slot is three months out. New research, published in the journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin, might help ease your pain.

Understanding their patients' frustrations, some doctors encourage them to book follow-up appointments while still at the doctor's office, says Diwakar Gupta, professor of information, risk, and operations management and Daniel B. Stuart Centennial Professor in the Application of Computers to Business & Management. It's a process he calls prioritized follow-up appointments.

But there's a dark side as well, he found. Doctors may not schedule them as much as a health care system prefers because they're afraid of late cancellations and no-shows. When patients book a follow-up several weeks in advance, there's a greater chance they may cancel late or not show up—because of schedule changes or because they may not need the appointment.

The solution, Gupta found, is to tweak pay incentives. By rewarding doctors for prioritized follow-ups, health care systems can make them easier to get—and improve their own bottom lines.

"They're able to ensure continuity of care, as opposed to letting the patient call two or three weeks later," Gupta says.

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