Why You Need To Offer Patient Self-Scheduling?
Patients seeking medical aid is a story that most of us can relate to. All of us have been a victim of either physical or mental illnesses and often we have sought medical aid at a hospital, clinic, or a practice. However, it is the booking of appointments that many of us have found issues with.
This patient appointment scheduling was earlier a process where the patients or his/her family members or others needed to either land at the medical/dental practice and physically book an appointment or would have to call them or text them regarding the same. However, with the introduction of technology and with the realization of the hassles of the process, this system of booking patient appointments has now taken a whole new turn.
As digitalization changed almost everything and the things that we see now around us, all of them that surround us, are transformed and digitalized now, all of the industries have seen their own transformation. The medical industry is not an exception and in fact, is one of the most prominent of the industries that have seen a rapid transformation via digitalization.
The medical sector is a vast industry consisting of a wide range of departments that perform in an organized way to provide the patients with the care that they desire. This is why the change that digitalization brought in becomes more palpable today. Whether it is the patient scheduling system or the intake process, the check-in process, or the payment and billing counter, ever other departments have now embraced digitalization dearly and are offering more digital facilities to the patients than ever.
This in turn is massively benefitting the patients because according to the latest statistical data, over 83% of adult internet users usually go for an online search if they want to gather health information. This clearly implies that they would not be putting a step back in case they find their healthcare provider is offering digital systems and software for use. They would instead be delighted to have digital facilities at their preferred healthcare practice.
81% of consumers have been found out to be unsatisfied with the healthcare experience they receive. This is where you can score with your practice because when the patients are dissatisfied, they most likely would change the practice or healthcare provider and would only be continuing with the same provider for any other compelling reasons. However, they would definitely want to switch their present, unsatisfactory provider to one such healthcare provider that not takes care of their needs but care more for them overall. They would thus be equipped with experienced doctors and staff, improved facilities, and the cutting-edge online medical and dental software and systems that make life easy both for the healthcare workers and the patients.
80% of the patients now are going for a physician who offers online scheduling facilities and is equipped with digital facilities in other departments as well, across both primary care and specialist physicians. Therefore, the drive for digital is a call that needs to be attended to by the practice owners, managers, and others in the healthcare industry as it is in the other prominent sectors as well.
Patient Appointment Scheduling is an Important Step in a Patient's Journey!
A patient's journey has always been visualized as a tiring one but this is gradually changing with the infusion of the digital ways and the cutting-edge medical office software and systems from GrowPractice that are improving every other department of healthcare and helping a medical/dental practice make the most out of the care they provide.
One of the primary steps of a patient's journey is when he/she tries to book a doctor's appointment. Furthermore, it is also noted that it is in this phase they face a whole lot of problems.
The patient appointments, being the first interaction between the patient and the medical/dental practice, is a crucial step in their journey. The patient appointment scheduling not only defines the path and the time of the patient appointment but also lets the patient have a clear and defined impression of how the practice is, hence forming a patient experience.
This patient experience goes a long way to influence the patient satisfaction that is reflected via the satisfaction ratings, which is again measured with the help of improved online surveys and feedback. It is the appointment scheduling of the patients then that should be the first thing that the practices need to focus on.
Now, when it comes to patient appointment scheduling, the appointment scheduling software is revolutionizing the medical offices of now.
According to the recent survey, 68% of the patients stated that they would more likely be choosing the practices that offer the ability to book, change, or cancel appointments online. Such is the demand for patient self scheduling facilities at a medical office. Therefore, your practice also needs to be equipped with the same in order to let the patients have the best first impression.
Wondering why you need to offer self scheduling options for the patients? Here's why!
To conform to the new normal
The patient scheduling software of now is complaint with the restrictions that the new normal impose after the dreadful outbreak of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. People now fear staying in close contact when outside after being confined to their indoors for almost a couple of years now. This becomes even more of a matter when it comes to healthcare providers. Therefore, rather than having the patients physically schedule their appointments or phoning for the same, it is always better if the providers offer online patient self-scheduling options to do it effortlessly.
Lend an optimum patient experience
Developing a peerless patient experience is the key to running a successful practice. Therefore, forming an optimum patient experience should be the ultimate aim of a medical/dental provide and this can be done by adhering to what the patient likes. Here, lending them easy and effective patient appointment scheduling systems would simply do more good than anything else right at the first phase of their journey.
Recent survey results state that around 81% of the patients today want to schedule their own appointments via a secure system. The trend of self-scheduling is on the rise and the practices can only trust reliable providers for the same, which is why more and more practices are choosing GrowPractice secure medical office and dental practice software and systems over any other service providers.
Improve the overall productivity
The practice consists of a wide variety of departments but one thing is for certain that is productivity, which needs to remain whole and improve continuously in order to help the practice thrive for long.
Though productivity dips due to numerous factors it is the overburdening of staff and not looking at the workflow, which directly hampers productivity. However, this can be repaired and the optimum productivity can be ensured by implementing cutting-edge appointment scheduling software and systems, intake software, patient check-in systems, billing software, and the options for customized workflows. GrowPractice brings all of these integrated with their medical office software and systems that practices can use to lift their productivity permanently.
Drastically reduce patient no-shows
Patient no-shows hurt the practices a lot. Furthermore, no-shows are a break in the path of the patient's healthcare journey, which often makes the patients upset, depressed, and lose their vigor to continue with their crucial journey of healthcare.
Patient no-shows quite negatively impact the practices and its reputation and revenues. The average rate of practice no-shows is estimated to be around 18%. However, it is true that the numbers are gradually coming down as a reason for the introduction of the patient self scheduling systems and other cutting-edge systems and equipment from trustworthy medical office system providers like GrowPractice. Reduction of the patient no-shows would certainly be one of the many benefits of the appointment scheduling software for patients, with the help of which, they can book, reschedule and cancel their doctor's appointments.
GrowPractice's appointment scheduling software for patients enables them to cancel their appointments even at the last minute, thereby saving the practices from losing out on their share of revenues and keeping the practice completely booked always.
Reduce the burden of the medical workers
Medical workers were always in demand ever since the development of healthcare practices, but in recent times, they are becoming more scarce than ever. Ever since the outbreak of the global pandemic the practices have been seeing a growing crunch of healthcare workers.
Nearly 1 in 5 medical workers have quit their jobs since the pandemic broke out. Furthermore, it has also been observed that around 18% have resigned during the pandemic. Though many of them left their jobs due to the risk of their lives and that of their families during the pandemic, a large number of them also left due to the burnouts, which have truly magnified since COVID-19 happened. This can certainly be restricted to the minimum by taking the load off their shoulders and sticking with the automatic patient appointment scheduling systems.
Attract more new patients
Patients are attracted to a particular practice when they learn about the doctors that practice there and the facilities that the healthcare provider provides. Experienced and skillful doctors, professional staff, modern pieces of equipment and fast and easy online accessibility, and other patient-first facilities are the things that the patients love. Therefore, the practices of today also need to equip themselves with the same. They can certainly start with improving the patient appointment scheduling systems reinforced with the trust of GrowPractice.
Ramp up the retention rates
Patient retention rates need to be something that should be taken care of and constantly monitored. Retaining the old patients are just as beneficial for the practices as attracting new patients if not more. This is because patients return to the same practice only if they find the service either satisfactory or more than that. Old patients returning to the same practice extends an added layer of credibility to the practices, making them effective and trustworthy among their peers. However, elevating the chances of retaining the old patients boils down to how you treat the patients overall. Here, you need to know that digitalization is the key to enhancing the patient experience and this can easily start with implementing smart patient self-scheduling software for the patients to schedule their appointments effortlessly.
Cut down the costs
Going for the automatic patient scheduling software systems obviously weigh less on the pockets. Yes, booking appointments manually imply added costs in the form of hiring more medical staff in order to attend to the patients properly and give an adequate amount of time to them. Furthermore, in times of rush, it often turns into something really messy when the patients wait in for their appointments but they are attended to half-heartedly. All of these come heavy on the patient satisfaction ratings of the practice. A simple solution to these problems would be the implementation of easy-to-use patient scheduling software and systems, which makes it less costly for the practices while helping the patients book their appointments without worrying a bit!
Improving the patient appointment scheduling system with GrowPractice!
As we have already seen how crucial a role the patient appointments play in the journey of a patient, it is really necessary that the practices realize how they can improve their patient appointment scheduling. Equipping their medical/dental offices with the best-in-class patient self scheduling software from GrowPractice is fundamental to assume the head start in the service of the patients.
The patient appointment bookings come right at the very first of their journey and would thus have to be looked up to with an equal amount of importance. Here GrowPractice will help you overcome the initial difficulties of implementing the patient appointment scheduling process effectively and help your practice grow in size and revenue without any worries:
So, here are some advantages that GrowPractice's advanced patient scheduling tools offer that would help your practice get the lead:
Fast and effective
GrowPractice boasts of giving your practice an edge over your peers and rivals. This is because of the promise of fast software to work your way out in the fast-paced world. Besides, the software that GrowPractice extends to the practices goes through numerous points of checking to ensure that they are really effective in real-time.
Easy integrations
GrowPractice promises easy integrations with other software and tools back at your office. The patient scheduling software and the medical office software that the company will provide, are designed to integrate with over 65 EHR and PM software that is available on the market. Along with this, the software from GrowPractice also brings in the facilities of integrating with numerous telehealth and payment processors without a hitch.
Optimum Security
GrowPractice is trusted by a majority of the American healthcare providers along with many US Federal government agencies due to the security and efficiency that it provides. GrowPractice makes sure that its medical software and systems are multi-level secure, with all its data encrypted and HIPAA compliant.
Customized workflow
Along with its efficient medical software, including patient schedulers, paperless intake forms, easy-to-go patient check-ins, billing, and payment software, and more, GrowPractice also brings in the unique facility of customing the workflow of its patients. This ensures proper care for the patients and cuts off the loss of time and effort along with reducing much of the confusion, thereby empowering the patients.
Cancellation is not a deal
Canceling the patients' appointments is almost as tough as booking them and sometimes seems to be even more. Not canceling patient appointments in time cause huge loss to the practices in the form of no-shows that the practices see on numerous occasions. However, if the patients manage to cancel their appointments even a short while before their appointment time, it would be really beneficial for the practices. Canceling patient appointments is no longer a deal with GrowPractice because it offers a HIPAA complaint two-way texting facility for the convenience of the patients to cancel their appointments if they turn up as unavailable.
Interactive
Patient self-scheduling is interactive indeed for the patients and this is why the patients absolutely love this new method when compared to the old method of booking patient appointments. The HIPAA compliant two-way texting method from GrowPractice takes the patients' considerations first into account and then helps them book their own appointments smoothly and conveniently.
Managing the scheduled appointment is effortless
A smart appointment scheduler from GrowPractice will help the providers not only to schedule their appointments without any issues but also manage them under a single, comprehensive dashboard. This helps save a lot of time and data loss, and makes scheduling and monitoring the same a breeze for the patients!
Rechecking with the appointments is no more a hassle
Suppose a patient's appointment is booked. This will not be the end of communication but the start of the same. Yes, the patients' appointments that are scheduled shall also be checked in order to help them understand that the practice cares for them and their health and also to avoid no-shows.
GrowPractice's improved appointment scheduling software among other foolproof medical/dental office software and systems has already boosted the retention of the old patients by 48% and geared the providers to achieve more. Reducing no-shows by 89%, GrowPractice has added more than 120 patients per provider over the total patients they have!
Better online access is sought after by over 59% of Gen Y patients, who stated that they can even switch their doctors to go for one that has better online access for the patients. So start making online access possible for the patients in the form of advanced patient appointment schedulers from GrowPractice now and ramp up the practice revenues effortlessly!
