Who gets the visit
When a patient books an appointment, Planbase has to put that visit on a provider.
Sometimes the choice is already made. The patient picked someone, they have a primary provider, or only one eligible person is free. That person gets the visit.
When nobody was named and several eligible providers are free, Planbase has to pick one. A lot of tools pick at random, or by alphabet or date of birth. Those rules keep filling the same clinicians. A provider licensed in many states is eligible almost every time, so they fill up, rare states get blocked, and narrowly licensed providers stay quiet. Always booking the fewest licenses just fills those people up instead.
Eligibility comes first
Before anyone is chosen, Planbase drops people who cannot take the visit. They need a published shift, and they have to pass the rules on the appointment type: who can host it, an active license for the patient's state, an active enrollment for their insurance, and attributes such as age or language. If more than one role has to be free, those hosts have to be free together.
How to set the rules: Appointment types and rules for patient booking. How types sit on shifts: Patient booking overview. Round robin versus a named provider: Patient booking links.
What Planbase does
Planbase draws two eligible providers, then books the less busy of the two. The draw is not even. The chance is 1 divided by that person's qualification license count. A provider with 2 licenses is 10 times more likely to be drawn than one with 20. No qualification licenses counts the same as one.
Full means booked time that day divided by shift time. The less full day is booked. If the two days match, the first of the pair is booked.
The count is the qualification license count already on the person. Skills are not part of the weight. Payor enrollment decides who is eligible. It is not part of this weight. The visit you are about to place is not counted yet.
After 1,500 visits
One simulated day. Some providers held a license in a single state. Some held all 51. The all-state group was about 3% of the roster.
Random. Any eligible provider, equal chance.
Less busy of two. Two names at random, then the quieter day.
Weighted draw. Two names, weighted by license count, then the quieter day. This is what Planbase does.
Check everyone. Book the least busy eligible provider.
Licensed in 1 to 5 states
Random | █ | 7% |
Less busy of two | ██ | 10% |
Weighted draw | ████ | 19% |
Check everyone | ████ | 19% |
Random left this group about 7% full. The weighted draw left them about 19%, the same as checking everyone.
Licensed in all 51 states
Random | ██████████ | 51% |
Less busy of two | ███████ | 35% |
Weighted draw | ███ | 17% |
Check everyone | ███ | 17% |
Random left this group about 51% full. The weighted draw brought them to about 17%.
Who got the visits
The all-state group was 3% of the roster. This is their share of the 1,500 visits.
Share of the roster | ██ | 3% |
Random | ██████████ | 14% |
Less busy of two | ███████ | 10% |
Weighted draw | ████ | 5% |
Check everyone | ████ | 5% |
Random handed them about 14% of the visits. The weighted draw handed them about 5%.