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New patient appointments
Dimension of care: Timely care 
Why we measure it - We want our patients to be able to make appointments in a timely manner. Our goal is to have appointments available in 14 days or less in our specialty clinics. Patients with urgent needs always are seen very quickly.
What this means - A median is the middle number when looking at all numbers in order from shortest to longest. The chart shows our median days to next specialty clinic appointment at our Milwaukee location. You can make appointments more quickly in many of our clinics.
Recent increases in the time to the next appointment are due to a need for more doctors and other providers in some specialty areas. We are working to hire these specialists.
About the data - The time to next appointment is actually the time to the third next available appointment for new patients. Often first and second available appointments are due to cancellations or other things that can't be planned. So, looking at the third available appointment is a more accurate measure of how long a patient may need to wait to see a specialist. This is how clinics across the country look at this data. This data does not include our Oncology Clinic as these patients always are seen as quickly as required for their ongoing care.
How we provide the best care
- Patients with urgent needs always are seen very quickly. Referring doctors can ask our doctors for help 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They also can ask to have a patient transported to our hospital. Our physician referral line is toll-free at (800) 266-0366.
- We review the time to the next appointment in all our clinics on an ongoing basis. We always are working to improve. There are national shortages of some specialists. We work hard to bring enough of these doctors to our hospital. We also help train people to become pediatric specialty doctors.
- We have advanced practice nurses in many clinics. This helps patients to be seen in a timely manner.
- We want families to let us know if they can't keep an appointment as soon as possible. This allows another patient to be seen. If you need to change an appointment, call Central Scheduling at (414) 607-5280 or toll-free at (877) 607-5230.
Featured video
Learn about safety and quality at Children's Wisconsin.