The patient queue that calms your waiting room
Patients check in from their phone or a kiosk, wait curbside or in the car, and get a text when the provider is ready. Less crowding, better infection control, fewer no-shows, and no need to replace your EHR.
No credit card required · Free plan included
Your waiting room shouldn't be the worst part of the visit
Patients arrive early, pack into a small room, and ask the front desk the same question over and over: "How much longer?" Meanwhile, no-shows leave empty slots that could have gone to walk-ins.
Overcrowded waiting rooms
Patients packed into a small room, especially during flu season, is bad for experience and infection control. Post-COVID, patients expect the option to wait elsewhere.
Every no-show is capacity you can't recover
A missed appointment is lost revenue and a slot another patient needed. Without reminders and easy rescheduling, no-show rates climb and drain the schedule.
Patients have no visibility into wait times
Without a real-time view, patients get anxious and frustrated. They ask the front desk repeatedly, leave bad reviews, and score your practice lower on satisfaction surveys.
Walk-ins vs. appointments: two systems, one mess
Urgent care and primary care clinics serve both scheduled and walk-in patients. Managing two streams with separate workflows creates bottlenecks and confusion at the front desk.
What better patient flow looks like
1 queue
for walk-ins and scheduled patients
Both streams merge into a single per-provider list, so the front desk runs one view instead of juggling two systems.
1 text
tells patients the provider is ready
Patients wait in the car or nearby instead of a packed room. Automatic SMS brings them in at the right moment, and reminders help patients show up in the first place.
0
medical details on the waiting room display
The optional TV display shows first name and last initial only. No medical details, no appointment reasons. Designed with patient privacy in mind.
How MakeTheQueue helps clinics
Mobile patient check-in
Patients scan a QR code to check in when they arrive. They see their queue position and estimated wait on their phone, from the parking lot, the lobby, or the coffee shop.
Curbside and virtual waiting via SMS
Patients wait in their car or anywhere nearby. Automatic text when the provider is ready to see them. No crowded waiting room, better infection control.
Walk-ins + scheduled patients, one queue
Appointments and walk-ins merge into a single queue per provider. The front desk sees one unified view. No dual systems, no double-bookings.
Privacy-safe waiting room display
Show queue status on a TV in the waiting room with first name and last initial only. No medical details, no appointment reasons. Designed with patient privacy in mind.
Wait time and throughput analytics
Track average wait times, no-show rates, and patient throughput by provider, time of day, and location. Included with Business.
Multi-location practice management
Manage queues across all your clinic locations from one dashboard. Each site gets its own queue, branding, and analytics.
How clinics use MakeTheQueue
Curbside waiting and virtual check-in
Patients check in from their phone when they arrive and wait in their car. When the provider is ready, they get a text to come inside. Less crowding, better infection control, and a calmer experience for everyone, especially immunocompromised patients and parents with young children.
Walk-in urgent care flow
Walk-in patients scan a QR code in the lobby to join the queue. They see their position and estimated wait in real time. Staff manage the queue from one screen: no paper sign-in sheets, no clipboard disputes, no "who was here first?" arguments. Providers see the next patient with one click.
Multi-provider scheduling with walk-in overflow
Scheduled patients book a specific provider. Walk-ins join a general queue and get routed to the next available provider. Both streams merge in one view. The front desk always knows who's next and for whom. No double-booking, no confusion between providers.
Frequently asked questions
The display shows first name and last initial only. No medical details, appointment reasons, or personal information are ever shown publicly. All data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
Yes, that's the core use case. Patients check in from their phone, wait wherever they want, and get an automatic text when the provider is ready. No crowded waiting room required.
MakeTheQueue handles queue flow and patient notifications. It sits alongside your EHR; it doesn't replace it. No complex integration required. Your front desk uses MakeTheQueue for flow, your EHR for clinical records.
Appointments and walk-ins flow into the same queue. Scheduled patients check in when they arrive. Walk-ins join the queue and get routed to the next available provider. One list, one view, no conflicts.
Wait time is one of the biggest drivers of patient satisfaction scores. Reducing perceived wait, through real-time visibility, curbside waiting, and SMS updates, directly improves the patient experience that CAHPS measures.
New practices start with a free trial of the Business plan, enough to pilot curbside texting with real patients. After the trial you can stay on the Free plan indefinitely or move to a flat-rate paid plan for two-way SMS, kiosk check-in, analytics, and multi-provider queues. Business adds CSV exports, white labeling, and multi-clinic support. No per-patient or per-message fees, and current prices are on the pricing page.
See also: Queue Management Software, Digital Waitlist, and how we compare to other tools.
Simple pricing. Start free, upgrade when you need more.
Start on Starter with every core feature from day one, or pick Business for analytics, exports, and multi-location. Full Business trial on every new account.
Start Free Trial