Duplicate Urgent Care Scheduling

Description
Patients were able to book multiple same-day Urgent Care appointments, often across different locations. This behavior led to unused appointment slots, higher no-show rates, and operational inefficiencies. We needed to introduce guardrails that would prevent duplicate scheduling while maintaining a smooth patient experience.

Challenge / Problem
Duplicate bookings inflated no-shows and strained Urgent Care capacity, leaving providers with unused slots and patients without timely access. The absence of scheduling rules created friction for staff and inefficiency across operations.

What We Did
I partnered with Analytics, UX, and IT to analyze scheduling behaviors and uncover the root cause. We designed and implemented a restriction rule that detects when a patient already has a same-day appointment and prevents them from booking another without first canceling. This solution was rolled out across both web and mobile scheduling flows to ensure consistency.

Impact / Results
The update improved scheduling reliability and operational efficiency:
• No-shows decreased by 40% in the first quarter after launch.
• Duplicate bookings were eliminated, freeing capacity for patients who truly needed care.
• Urgent Care teams gained more predictable scheduling and better resource management.