Managing service capacity in an ambulatory care clinic.

Capacity management seeks to improve organizational effectiveness by increasing operational efficiency and reducing patient congestion. A framework for capacity management, including demand-smoothing and supply-matching strategies, provides structure for a manager's approach to effective ambulatory care. A patient flow study of 108 patients at an outpatient medical oncology clinic identified several inefficient patient services. Rather than increase the clinical resource base, a balanced set of relevant, low-cost strategies was proposed to improve performance.