The Clinician Will See All of You Now

The ideal group member is someone who is learning to live with a chronic condition but hasn’t mastered it yet—someone who can benefit from being around other patients. Groups may not be ideal for very frail elderly people with vision, hearing, or mobility issues, Harris says.

Switching to a group-appointments schedule can be very helpful for a busy practice that can no longer handle drop-ins or that has an extended wait time for appointments. Instead of blocking off an entire day to see eight to 10 patients for 15 minutes each, Harris says, you can take care of those people in an hour or so and leave the rest of the day open for other patients.

“If you want to increase productivity, increase patient satisfaction, and get patients seen in a timely manner, it might be worth pursuing,” she adds.

Harris predicts group appointments will become even more popular as research demonstrating their effectiveness comes into circulation.

“I think this is a fantastic role for PAs and NPs,” she says. “It really highlights our unique contribution to medicine.”