Turnaround time (clinical TAT)
Turnaround time in asynchronous telehealth is the elapsed time from a patient submitting intake to a licensed clinician’s decision, reported as a distribution — median and 90th percentile — by encounter type and state, because the patients who wait longest are the ones who churn.
- Intake submitted → clinician decision
- Report p50 and p90 by type and state
- Hours is the honest unit for async programs
- A retention metric in disguise
Measure the percentile, promise the percentile
An average hides the tail. A median of two hours with a 90th percentile of eighteen means one patient in ten waits most of a day. Promise the 90th percentile, in hours, and staff to it with a peak factor for Monday spikes and post-campaign surges.
What moves it
- Clinician capacity licensed in the patient’s state — coverage gaps show as rising p90 with flat p50
- Minutes per case — structured intake and drafted renewal summaries shorten review
- Queue design — one queue routed by license and urgency, with red-flag and live-visit lanes
- Needs-more-information loops — each one restarts the clock
Compliance handled, so you can build
Lithos runs the clinicians, pharmacies, and 50-state rules behind your care program — one API.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good turnaround time for asynchronous telehealth?
Hours at the 90th percentile during coverage windows, with renewals faster than initial encounters. Minutes requires idle clinicians; days loses patients.
How is turnaround time different from time to treatment?
Turnaround ends at the clinician’s decision. Time to treatment continues through pharmacy fill and delivery, and is what the patient experiences; both should be measured.