@szyg5 Mayo does efficiently schedule appointments as best they can and generate a schedule they print for you or you can access the schedule in your patient portal online. When I came for my first consult, at my first appointment, they were scheduling same day testing and exam appointments based on what they needed after seeing me that morning, and they printed a new schedule for me while I waited for them to secure the appointments. They had planned for a 2 day visit and I saw the surgeon on the 2nd day as planned. They also allow you to wait for a scheduled test as a "checker" like stand by, so if they are finished with other patients sooner, often they can take patients early. I have had tests earlier than scheduled every time I have gone to Mayo. The only exception to that was when I returned for surgery for a broken ankle. There wasn't any extensive testing needed other than a Covid test, and blood draw that could be done anytime there. They did X-rays at the consult the first day. Surgery was scheduled and done 2 days later because of needing to wait for the Covid test results. The only tests that seemed to require more waiting were MRIs, and that is understandable because they take a long time per patient to complete, so those don't get canceled or finished early. Waiting a couple days for an MRI at Mayo was still much faster than MRIs done where I live that I have had to wait 3 to 4 weeks for.

Does this answer your question about how Mayo schedules patients? They do have a lot of capacity because they do their own testing in house. I was impressed with their efficiency and efforts to make this easy for me while I was there. I was given answers from the doctors at my appointments and offered surgery at the first consult with the spine surgeon which is the reason I came to Mayo in the first place. I should also add that while I was at my spine surgery consult, the doctor who examined me and tested my thoracic outlet syndrome in the lab, called the spine surgeon about me while I was at the appointment so they consulted each other on the spot.

I had spent 2 years trying to get local surgeons to help me, and none would. The last local surgeon kept asking for different tests for 6 months, and after I did everything he asked, he decided not to offer surgery. I had a compressed spinal cord. All the doctors could see that, but came up with excuses because they didn't understand the connection to why I had the pattern of symptoms that I had. When I compare that to coming to Mayo and having an answer in 2 days, it's quite remarkable really.