Baylor College of Medicine’s Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery is now offering online appointment scheduling for existing patients.

“Although the option to request an appointment online has been available, allowing our patients to actually schedule an appointment online is a new convenience,” said Dr. Jeffery Steinbauer, chief medical information officer at Baylor.

Steinbauer and Dr. Todd Rosengart, chair and professor of surgery at Baylor, believe this more patient-centered approach to scheduling is a better way of doing business, and capitalizing on new and growing communication efforts.

Direct scheduling is available through My Chart.

“This makes the scheduling process efficient and easy for patients,” Rosengart said.

According to research from Accenture, in the next four years 64 percent of patients will book appointments digitally. The department wants to make sure it stays at the forefront of this trend.

“Compelled by research and predicted trends in patient behavior and expectations, we set out to make online scheduling available to our clinical customers,” said David Opheim, surgery website designer at Baylor. “This is a key service that will create a more pleasant and satisfying experience for our patients going into the next decade.”

The department hopes that overall patient satisfaction will increase with direct online scheduling, and Sunny Chopra, project coordinator in surgery, believes it will increase patient access to the clinic.

“This system allows patients to schedule appointments per their convenience instead of waiting to schedule an appointment during business hours,” Chopra said. “Direct scheduling will impact our clinical operations by decreasing the overall time the patient is in the clinic and freeing up the staff to work with patients who are coming into the clinic.”

Online scheduling is now available with Baylor’s department of surgery.