Dynamic allocation of same-day requests in multi-physician primary care practices in the presence of prescheduled appointments.

Appointments in primary care are of two types: 1) prescheduled appointments, which are booked in advance of a given workday; and 2) same-day appointments, which are booked as calls come during the workday. The challenge for practices is to provide preferred time slots for prescheduled appointments and yet see as many same-day patients as possible during regular work hours. It is also important, to the extent possible, to match same-day patients with their own providers (so as to maximize continuity of care).