Wave-off: a mechanism for physician-reduced demand
The wave-off mechanism illustrates a trade-off between immediate workload relief and long-term operational performance. While it helps physicians address short-term capacity constraints, it may undermine optimal long-term patient care and system efficiency. This study highlights the operational and behavioral implications of physician-driven demand modulation, including the subtle yet consequential phenomenon of physician-reduced demand, in which patients are implicitly discouraged from revisiting due to workload-driven adjustments in care delivery.
Authors
- Yi Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8726-402X)
- Long Cheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7084-5821)
- Y. T. Zhang
- Yunhao Xie
- Yanan Dai
- Yuchen Xu
- Jian-Qiang Hu
- Jian Zhang
- Yuan Liu
Institutions
- Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University (CN)
- Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College (CN)
- Fudan University (CN)
- Zhongshan Hospital (CN)
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- BMC Health Services Research
- Published
- 2026-02-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-026-14093-1
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Queuing Theory Analysis
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00