The first thing patients probably notice when walking into the new doctors offices at Greater Baltimore Medical Center is there is no waiting room.
Patients go directly to an exam room, where doctors, nurses and other staff are supposed to cycle in during a half-hour appointment. All supplies are on hand, as are electronic medical records, to ensure that people leave with any needed prescriptions or referrals to specialists.
The design is patterned after one used by a Seattle medical system, which modeled it after Toyota's production system.