Purpose: Providing timely access is an important measure of patient satisfaction in specialty care clinicssuch as cancer centers. Excessive patient wait time to see an oncologist is very critical for cancer patients asthey often benefit from starting the treatment process as soon as possible. This paper addresses capacityplanning for both new and returning patients in cancer clinics. This research is motivated by a cancercenter in Texas that seeks to improve its clinical performance to decrease new patient wait time to see anoncologist.Design/methodology/approach: A simulation model is proposed to assess new patient access tooncologists when employing several tactical and operational policies such as resource flexibility,specialization flexibility, and reserving slots for new patients. The model utilizes two years of data collectedfrom a cancer center in Texas.Findings:The results suggest the best combination of operating policies in order to allocate patientdemand to providers. This study also determines the required capacity level to provide timely access fornew patients.Originality/value: Although the literature in outpatient scheduling and capacity planning is rich, newpatient access in oncology clinics has received limited attention. The few existing studies do not considerpatient no-shows and cancellations, and to the best of our knowledge, no study addresses individualoncologist clinic flexibility and the idea of reserving slots for new patients
