Late Arrivals, Department of Medicine in the Medical School at the University of Minnesota

Purpose: To ensure care is patient-centered and to ensure we do our best to accommodate all of our patients. 

1. A patient who arrives more than 15 minutes after their appointment time may be asked to reschedule.  The policy will be mentioned in all written patient communications and will also be posted at the front desk.
2.  A patient who arrives late but less than 15 minutes late will be roomed per the usual routine.
3. Rescheduling is always at the discretion of the provider, and no patient is to be turned away from the clinic without first consulting with the provider.
4. The provider will receive a text page alerting them that a patient has arrived late.  The provider then should contact the front desk or patient care staff with directions for the patient.
5. The default answer if they can not be seen immediately is that they are welcome to wait to see if an opening in the schedule occurs.  They should be warned that there is a chance that they will not be seen.
6. If the patient can not be seen, we will offer to take care of any urgent issues for that day and offer an opportunity to reschedule.