Programming Soluion Propsa

Programming Solution Proposal

Joshua Grant

PRG/211

October 8, 2012

Anthony Glad

Problem: My wife is the director of a private multi-disciplinary pediatric therapy clinic, which specializes in helping children with special needs. In order for children to reach their maximum potential with the therapy, they need to be consistent with their treatment, therefore weekly therapy appointments are scheduled on an ongoing basis. However, clients frequently no-show or late cancel to their recurring therapy appointments, which negatively impacts the consistency with the child’s treatment plan, decreases the rate at which they make progress, as well as reducing the therapist’s productive time. If a family does not show up to their appointment, the therapist is therefore unable to reach other clients on such short notice in an attempt to reschedule.

Role: When a family late cancels (calls after 8:00am the day of their appointment), the Family Child Advocate is responsible for notifying the therapist of the cancellation. If a family no-shows to their appointment, the therapist is responsible for calling the family in an attempt to reach them and reschedule the missed session. The therapist is then also responsible for documenting either the late cancel or no-show in an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of the attendance for the clients. The Branch Director is responsible for managing the caseloads of the therapists, monitoring the frequency of the cancellations, and contacting the families when the documentation indicates that they are inconsistent with their treatment. If a family cancels or no-shows more than three times, they are removed from the permanent schedule in order to offer that spot to another child.

Process: Implanting a program that will track missed appointments will help increase the therapist productive time and benefit families that are currently on a wait list. Filtering out clients that cannot meet their appointment times can offer...