Improving patient flow

[Jofriend]

I would be interested in hearing about ways you have improved patient flow in your outpatient clinics.  Currently, our process is slow and cumbersome and there are many bottlenecks.  Patients initially meet with an individual for registration or can check in via an electronic kiosk; the patient fills out a paper medical history form; the nursing staff does vitals, registers the chief complaint and updates their meds; lastly the clinical staff meets with the patient - orders labs, x-rays; discusses results and does patient education.  We have a reasonably efficient electronic health record.  We have one protocol for UTIs that works well. Overall it is a cumbersome process and the clinical staff not only sees patients but does other tasks such as prior authorizations, form completion, answering emails/questions.   Thoughts?