There are many ways to address patient access, but behind any of the strategies or tactics you choose is the same goal: protect patient experience, keep provider schedules optimized and safeguard revenue at a time when demand remains high and staffing is still fragile. 

A Dec. 9, 2025, MGMA Stat poll asked medical practice leaders what their organizations’ top patient access focus will be in 2026. The results? Wildly divided, reflecting just how complex patient access is for any practice. 

While no-shows (27%) was the top choice of practice leaders polled, other major areas of focus were not far behind: Online scheduling (24%), phone access (22%), and wait times (21%) made up two-thirds of all responses, followed by “other” (5%). The poll had 236 applicable responses. 

What you told us about your 2026 strategies 

No-shows 

Leaders focusing on no-shows are largely doubling down on automated reminders and confirmation texts, including same-day reminders and messages sent weeks in advance. Many are layering in overbooking or waitlists, tougher cancellation policies or fees, and in a few cases dismissing chronic “frequent fliers,” while a small subset notes the ongoing need for human outreach and vendor-supported tools. 

Stabilizing rates and smarter targeting 

MGMA has tracked no-show trends closely: After the tumult of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been more recent signs of progress. By August 2025, 73% of practices said their no-show rates were the same or lower than the year before, though more than a quarter still reported increases. 

The stakes are high. Industry analyses estimate that no-shows and last-minute cancellations can consume roughly 14% of a medical group’s revenue on a given day, with revenue losses around $150,000 annually per physician in some models. 

Traditional tactics — reminder calls, text reminders, and stricter policies — remain common. What’s new is where and how practices are using data: 

• Predictive analytics — Research shows that models using factors such as prior attendance, appointment type, lead time and social determinants can identify high-risk patients, allowing targeted outreach or overbooking strategies. 
• Dynamic outreach — Instead of sending the same reminder to every patient, practices can reserve live calls or two-way texting for the highest-risk visits while lower-risk visits receive automated texts. 
• Converting no-shows to revenue — When a predictive model flags likely no-shows, some practices fill those future “ghost” slots with waitlisted patients or same-day demand, turning potential idle time into billable care. 

For small and midsized groups, the message is not that every practice must build its own data science team. Many practice management and patient communication vendors are embedding risk scores and simple rules into their products. The work for administrators is to: 

1. Understand what the model is doing in plain terms. 
2. Make sure staff know how to act on risk flags. 
3. Watch for equity concerns — for example, whether certain patient groups are over-targeted for stricter policies. 

Online scheduling 

Respondents prioritizing online scheduling plan to promote it through a mix of text and email links, website and portal prompts, on-hold messages, and front-desk scripting or in-visit education. Several cite “all of the above” marketing tactics and social media campaigns, while a few are still building the technical foundation (e.g., buildout in Epic or other EHRs) or struggling with capacity and template issues that keep patients from finding available online appointments. 

Online scheduling: Not yet fully used 

Online scheduling has been discussed for years, but adoption is still uneven. A July 2025 MGMA poll found that 71% of medical groups have less than one in four patients using digital tools to schedule appointments. The gap created as practices seek out new tools but don’t have them enabled for patients to pick their appointments is exactly why some leaders chose online scheduling as their 2026 focus. 

What’s changing: 

• More flexible scheduling rules — Modern platforms allow practices to expose different visit types to different patients, times or locations, while protecting complex visits that still require staff judgment.  
• Better promotion — Practices are pushing scheduling links via text, email and portal messages, and training front-desk staff to remind patients: “Next time you can book this online.” 
• Integration with access analytics — Scheduling data feeds into dashboards that track fill rate, lead time and cancellation patterns. 

For patient experience, the benefit is obvious: 24/7 access to book or change appointments without calling at 8 a.m. For practices, well-designed rules can improve schedule optimization by smoothing demand and reducing lastminute calls. 

The caution: online scheduling that is bolted on without careful template design can lead to mismatched visit types, double-booking, or chaos on high-demand days. Small practices should work backward from their ideal day: which slots are safe for online booking, and which must be protected for phone triage or procedures?  

Phone access 

Groups targeting phone access are leaning heavily into AI-enabled tools for triage, answering, monitoring call performance, and even virtual staffing support. Alongside AI, many are adopting or expanding call centers, centralized phone operations, VOIP systems with better analytics, callback/queueing options, IVR, texting, and added staff during peak times to reduce hold times and dropped calls. 

Phone access: Still the front door, but changing fast 

For many patients, your phone number is your brand. A sizable share of practice leaders have signaled plans to optimize or implement major changes to phone systems or contact centers in recent years. Other common priorities heading into 2026 likely include: 

• Modern call distribution and queueing — Basic upgrades such as callback options, better routing rules and real-time dashboards can cut abandonment and reduce time staff spend putting out fires. Case studies from MGMA members show that even modest changes can boost first-call resolution and reduce staff burnout. 
• Dedicated access or call center teams — Centralizing call handling can free on-site staff to focus on in-person patients and check-in workflows. 
• New forays into AI — Adoption of AI is accelerating across healthcare, and other surveys show strong interest in AI-enabled contact center tools that can handle routine questions, refill requests or appointment reminders before a staff member ever picks up the phone. 

For small and midsize medical group practices, the key is finding the right fit and pacing: 

• Start with clear metrics (average speed to answer, abandonment rate, call transfer rate). 
• Consider low-risk tools first, such as callback features or simple virtual agents that confirm appointments and share directions. 
• Involve front-line staff in vendor demos; if the tool adds clicks or confusion, it will not deliver the promised return. 

Better phone access shows up quickly in CG-CAHPS-type scores around “getting care when needed,” but it also fills open slots and protects revenue when staff no longer miss calls from patients ready to schedule. 

Wait times 

For practices focused on wait times, the dominant strategy is straightforward: hire more providers to add capacity, sometimes paired with expanding support staff. Leaders also describe redesigning schedule templates to favor higher-demand visit types, adding same-day or urgent slots, and tackling workflow changes in rooming, check-in, and referral response times — plus selective use of technology and communication to keep patients informed. 

Wait times: From “how long?” to “how smart?” 

New-patient access has come under sustained pressure since the pandemic. A July 2025 MGMA Stat poll found that about two-thirds of medical groups said new-patient appointment wait times were flat or shorter than the year prior, but nearly a third still reported increases. That mixed picture, along with the historic focus on time to third-next-available appointment as a key metric, explains why many leaders will likely choose wait times as their top 2026 focus. 

For smaller practices, the levers are straightforward but not easy: 

• Templates and same-day/urgent holds — Reworking templates to hold back same-day or 48-hour slots can cut delays without adding providers, but it requires discipline from schedulers and clinicians. 
• Redesigned check-in and rooming — Practices that simplify pre-visit paperwork and standardize rooming often see fewer bottlenecks and smoother provider days. 
• Right-sized panel and visit types — Matching visit length and panel size to actual demand keeps physicians from running chronically behind. 

The payoff extends beyond happier patients in the waiting room. Shorter waits often translate into better access-related patient experience scores and fewer walkouts, which directly protects visit volume. 

“Other” access plays 

Patient access is a major area of operations, and not every strategy fits neatly into the aforementioned buckets. Respondents who chose “other” describe a broader access play that blends hiring more clinicians and care team roles with expanded hours, same-day/urgent slots, and waitlists or overbooking. Some are centralizing scheduling, standing up call centers, or using AI tools to extend capacity, while others are exploring tactics such as providing estimated amounts due up front and confronting underlying primary care shortages that limit access regardless of scheduling tweaks. 

This fits a broader trend: For many practice leaders, the answer has been to rethink capacity itself, not just how it is scheduled: 

• Adding early-morning, evening or weekend clinics for high-demand services. 
• Expanding virtual visits for follow-ups, chronic care or minor acute issues. 
• Removing friction in referrals and prior authorizations so that available slots are not wasted waiting on paperwork. 

These strategies, while resource-intensive, can have outsized impact on patient experience scores and downstream revenue if they are backed by realistic staffing plans and clear expectations for providers. 

Choosing your 2026 access roadmap 

The common thread in the Dec. 9 MGMA Stat poll options is that no single tool or tactic will fix access on its own. Consider these three guiding questions to share your 2026 roadmap: 

1. Which pain point is costing you the most — in patient experience, schedule chaos, or lost revenue? Long lead times, jammed phones, underused online tools, and persistent no-shows each show up differently in your data and your comment cards. 
2. What data do you already have, and how will you measure success? Simple metrics — time to third-next-available appointment, call abandonment rate, portal adoption, no-show rate by visit type — will tell you whether changes are working. 
3. Where does technology add leverage versus complexity? Adding AI or advanced analytics can be powerful, but only when paired with redesigned workflows, staff training, and realistic budgeting for implementation and support. 

As MGMA Stat has shown in recent polls, more practices are willing to experiment with AI, analytics and modern scheduling tools, but they are doing so amid tight margins and staffing challenges. 

The opportunity in 2026 is to use those tools intentionally, as part of a disciplined strategy to shorten waits, simplify access, fill provider schedules, and ensure that every available slot delivers value for patients and the practice.