Medical Practice 101

Lisa West December 15th, 2012

Today, many sole medical practitioners, family and specialist medical practices, are utilising the same doctor – patient scheduling technology, as some of the worlds leading health authorities. An automated patient appointment scheduling system can help improve efficiency and bring your medical practice up to par with the rest of the ‘advancing’ world in the twenty-first century. Without doubt, automation is becoming the norm for more routine tasks in the world of business: And while of course people’s health is a ‘personal’ matter, at the end of the day a medical practice has to make money; just like any other business – Indeed, the health care industry is in fact worth billions of dollars a year.

Keeping Up With Business

To keep up, businesses (including medical practices and practitioners) need to be competitive, and one of the best ways to do that is ensure the services they provide are meeting the needs of their clients: With regards to health care, this could not be truer. An automated patient appointment scheduling system can help to improve overall medical practice management by improving office efficiency. Think about the time staff spends on the phone dealing with patient appointments and reminder calls: In a busy office, this can actually amount to ‘most of the time’! Is this really a cost effective way for them to spend their working hours? The hours you (and your patients) are in fact paying for.

Improve Workflows

With an automated scheduler in place your staff will have more time to deal with patients – In this way, workflows can be improved. Nobody likes to spend time hanging around on the end of a phone. Automated patient appointment scheduling systems can deal with multiple calls, usually in a fraction of the time. Most medical practitioners can substantially improve services using a relatively simple patient appointment scheduler. Basic (necessary) features include patient appointment scheduling and automated reminder calls. Reminder calls have proven to help reduce no-shows. Automating ensures reminder calls are always made, as well as always made on time: In this way revenues can in fact be improved by reducing no-shows. Advanced systems can deal with much more. Features include multiple languages, customisations, billing, pre paid appointments and much more.

Does Your Medical Practice Need an Automated Patient Appointment Scheduler?

If your medical practice is still ‘getting by’ using pen and paper then it is probably time to consider moving on and into the twenty first century – Give some of the systems and their features a try out: Surely a step in the right direction.

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Lisa West December 2nd, 2012

For any practitioner (medical, specialist, dental, holistic etc) patient appointment scheduling is essential: Indeed, it is no secret that revenues depend upon it. As the world becomes an increasingly competitive place, it is essential for businesses to streamline work processes as effectively and so cost effectively as possible. Over the last decade many of the world’s largest health organisations have turned to automated patient appointment scheduling to achieve just that. Automating patient appointment scheduling tasks invariably results in the improved overall performance: Less mistakes are made and patients are able to schedule an appointment at any time, which can save staff a lot of valuable time.

Affordable Solutions

Today, this technology is available and affordable even for sole practitioners. Of course, there are extremely advanced automated schedulers available. However, such advanced systems are rarely needed by smaller medical practices and sole practitioners. Basic features include automated patient appointment scheduling services and patient appointment reminder calls.

Patient Appointment Scheduling

Automated schedulers can be used during busy periods or applied 24/7: It depends upon how busy the practice is. Most online systems (as opposed to “in-house” systems) can also provide patients with 24/7 scheduling – In a modern world, providing this kind of convenience can keep you ahead of the competition.

Patient Reminder Calls

The stats tell us time and time again that patient reminder calls can help to reduce no-shows. In any medical practice, time is money and no-shows cost: Time is one thing that can never be recuperated. Automating this task gives your front desk staff more time to deal with patients: No more hours spent making calls manually or writing out cards. For any medical practice or practitioner with a high No-show rate automated patient scheduling software can be extremely cost effective: Helping to reduce no-shows and so increase revenues as well as the level of patient care provided.

Free or Paid?

They say nothing in life is free, and that is generally the case online as it is offline. Free scheduling software invariably comes with terms and conditions attached: And usually, those conditions include giving the provider of that free system certain “information”. If you think your patients wouldn’t mind giving away their information they okay. However, for most this would cause a conflict of interests. Indeed, it would be hard to imagine these free systems being HIPAA compliant – Ultimately, you get what you pay for in this life and that includes patient appointment schedulers.

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Lisa West November 24th, 2012

An advanced automated medical online scheduler can provide your medical practice with everything it needs to keep doctors and patient appointments organised. To survive in a consistently evolving world all businesses, including the health industry, need to keep connected with their clients: And the more ways they provide those clients with ways to connect the better.

A Welcome Service for Patients, Doctors & Staff

Research has certainly suggested that people want (and welcome) the opportunity to make a doctor appointment online – Indeed, most medical practitioners who do provide online patient scheduling find patients will book their doctor appointment online and in many instances the sheer convenience of it (patients are able schedule, re-schedule and cancel their doctor appointment online with ease 24/7), can help to reduce no-shows and increase revenues: With relatively little effort at all, on behalf of the staff or the medical practitioners.

User Friendly

The cost of implementing an online appointment scheduling system is relatively low when you balance up the advantages. An online scheduler can facilitate one of the most significant trends right now within business: Mobile internet. Patients can access the scheduling system while on the move, 24/7. Online systems can take a lot of the headache out of scheduling. Today’s systems are extremely user friendly; nobody will get frustrated. In fact most medical practitioners find patients love the new system and are amazed at the true simplicity of using it – Immediately they can see which appointments are free and are able to quickly and easily choose which suits them most: Of course, not every system is the same. However, invariably this is the case for medical practitioners that have opted for a reputable system with a proven track record.

Cost Effective

If you counted how many hours staff spent each week dealing with patient appointments it would almost undoubtedly surprise you. Without doubt, in a busy medical practice staff can spend a large percentage of the day answering calls, making and rearranging appointments. An online scheduler can deal with scheduling as well as reminder calls: Giving staff more free time to deal with patients and other vital medical practice management tasks such as billing.

More advanced systems will generally offer a more comprehensive range of features and customisations: It depends’ what the needs of the practitioner and patients are. A free trial can provide the opportunity to try out various online systems – Great for assessing what features are the most useful for your practice.

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Lisa West November 17th, 2012

Medical practice management and patient scheduling software can help practitioners improve services and so the level of patient care they provide. Indeed, some of the world’s largest health organisations have saved millions of dollars by streamlining patient scheduling. Providing patients with the opportunity to schedule, reschedule or cancel an appointment 24/7 has proven to help improve patient services as well as reduce no-shows. Automation liberates staff, giving them extra time to deal with more pressing, “hands-on” tasks.

Liberate Staff & Improve Services
All scheduling tasks can be dealt with by the system automatically, 24/7. Or these systems can be called upon during busy periods only; providing a cost effective way to have that “extra pair of hands” available as and when needed (invariably more cost effective than hiring “human hands”).

The Personal Touch
Some medical practitioners prefer to use automated patient scheduling during peak times only: Feeling this keeps patient services more personalised – And indeed, there is an real element of truth in this. However, research has indicated that most adults would actually welcome the opportunity to be able to make a doctor appointment 24/7 using an online or automated service. In addition, something to seriously consider: If the “personalised service” being provided is not actually adequate (as in dealing with demand), due to the fact staff do not have the time needed to deal with the tasks at hand, surely automation is the practical (as well as cost effective) solution – Indeed, this has in fact proven to be the case for medical practices, practitioners and health corporations worldwide.

Nothing in Life is Free
As they say, nothing in life is free: And like most things, if you want quality you have to pay for it. There are free appointment scheduling software downloads and systems available online. However, they usually come with a catch. For medical practitioners free appointment scheduling software can be a precarious area to tread. More often than not, the company providing the free service or the developer will be collecting data in some way – And as all medical practitioners have a duty to protect their patient’s data, free software is rarely an option.

On The Other Hand
On the other hand, free software and system “free trials” are extremely useful. They provide medical practitioners and staff to try out the software. Most professional (paid for) online medical appointment system providers understand the importance of “user friendly”: In general, staff do not need to be seriously savvied to work with these systems. Nevertheless, test driving before making any commitment is always the soundest way forward.

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Lisa West November 3rd, 2012

Automated patient appointment scheduling online systems are principally used by sole practitioners and family practices as well as primary and specialty clinics. However, an online scheduler is also an extremely useful tool for just about any professional that needs a reliable, versatile, internet accessible appointment scheduling solution (hairdressers, holistic practitioners, beauticians etc).

Improve Customer Service
Automated scheduling systems are generally used by medical practitioners to manage patient appointments as well as by larger health organisations to schedule elective surgery. Indeed, advanced systems are extremely versatile and can be customised to suit just about any specification. Some systems are multi-lingual, which is extremely useful in what is today a highly cosmopolitan environment.

Ease of Use
Online systems can be extremely advanced and offer a wide variety of choices to both doctors and patients. By automating patient scheduling staff can be freed from this mundane and time consuming task: And with more time for patients customer services will invariably be improved. While feature rich quality systems are usually very easy to use. The technological experience of staff does not need to be advanced as online automated systems are designed to be user friendly for doctors, staff and patients.

Reduce No Shows
The statistics consistently confirm that patient appointment reminder calls do help to reduce no-shows. Even so, in a busy medical practice it can be difficult for staff to find the time to a) Make the reminder call, b) Organise postal card reminders. Most online systems can be scheduled to make reminder calls at a specific time automatically. Patients have the opportunity to confirm, reschedule or cancel their up-and-coming doctor appointment with ease (literally, at the press of a button). Automated reminder calls have proven to help reduce no-shows and as a result, help to improve revenue.

A Cost effective Solution
Without question, online patient appointment scheduling has proven to be a cost-effective solution for health organisations, specialist clinics and practitioners around the world. Research does suggest that many working adults would welcome an online 24/7 scheduling option. The health industry is competitive and people have never had more choice. Automating patient appointment scheduling is a cost effective way improve overall medical practice management.

The advantages and benefits are clear. It is possible to test drive some systems, which offers up the ideal opportunity for any professional that is considering utilising an online scheduling system, to assess which features are going to be the most beneficial for them – Without doubt, a good decision.

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Lisa West October 27th, 2012

Medical Appointment Scheduling Software can take care of all your medical practice patient scheduling needs. Today, “digital schedules” are playing a major role in everyday life for many people. In a modern world people welcome the opportunity to book their medical appointment online: After all, research indicates more and more people are using the internet more than ever to find the services and products they want. Why not their doctor? For some professionals, their lifestyle fundamentally demands online patient appointment scheduling. With online scheduling patients can schedule a doctor appointment 24/7 – Much more convenient for patients with busy schedules and long working hours as well as the hearing impaired.

Error Free scheduling
Some of the largest health organisations in the US are using automated online medical appointment scheduling software to deal with patient appointments. By all accounts, the “good old days” of pen and paper scheduling are well and truly over,: And there are some very good reasons for this. Automated systems are 24/7: Unlike staff, they do not need time off and can multi-task way beyond any human capacity. Employing staff can be an expensive business. Deploying automated software is usually the more cost effective as well as efficient solution. In addition, medical appointment scheduling software does not suffer that “troublesome” human factor called emotion. Your patients call is dealt with quickly and efficiently 24/7 in a polite and orderly fashion.

Reduce No Shows
No shows cost health organisations and medical practitioners millions of dollars every year. When a patient does not show for their doctor appointment that time is lost: Therefore revenue is lost. Patient appointment reminder calls have proven to reduce no-shows. However, making those calls, or sending cards is time consuming. In a busy medical practice staff do not always have time to deal with reminder calls. Online medical appointment scheduling software can make patient reminder calls at scheduled times, automatically. More advanced systems can also send reminders via SMS and email.

Feature Rich
Automating reminder calls is probably one of the most useful features of medical appointment scheduling software: Aside it’s primary function of course, which is to schedule patient appointments. Some of the more advanced systems available can be customised and offer up many more features: Multiple language selections, billing, repeat appointments – Take a look at some of the features available. Without doubt, you will be amazed at just how advanced some of the software available is.

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Lisa West October 22nd, 2012

Automated online medical appointment scheduling can streamline workflows and so help your medical practice improve services: And when services improve your patients will remain happy patients – This can only be good for revenue. Front desk staff can often become overwhelmed because they have too many patients to deal with: And sometimes it is simply due to poor work ethics surmounting to bad organisation. Either way, it will invariably result in lost revenue for the medical practice.

A Simple Solution
When patients are consistently left hanging on the end of a phone to make a doctor appointment, they do have a tendency to start looking elsewhere. Additionally, if they are left in the waiting room due to mistakes in schedules, things can get very irate all around – If this happens too many times chances are they will also be changing their medical practice. An online medical appointment scheduling system can deal with all patient appointment scheduling tasks, including reminder calls. Your staff will have more to deal with patients and other tasks – By doing the relatively simple, inexpensive thing of becoming automated, you can improve your patient services.

Self-Service Patient Appointment Scheduling
Research surveys do indicate that patients want online doctor appointment scheduling. Why wouldn’t they? Today more and more people are hiring the services they need and buying products online. Indeed, in the twenty-first century it hard to imagine life without the internet. An online, self-service appointment scheduling system allows them to take control. Your patients can schedule, reschedule or cancel their doctor appointment online 24/7. Advance systems are very easy to use, for both staff and patients. There are free trials available and they are very good for test-driving exactly how user friendly a system is: As well as how efficient.

Multiple Uses
Advanced online appointment scheduling software and systems can support multiple doctors and even multiple medical practices. Great communication generally means excellent organisation. Medical practitioners on the move can be updated in real time: No crossover in communication, no time wasting.

Customisation
Not all patient appointment scheduling software and online systems are the same. Basic systems are usually sufficient for a small medical practice and sole practitioners. However, larger medical practices with multiple doctors and specialist clinics would benefit greatly from being able to customise forms and functions. Some systems are also multi-lingual, which is very useful for practitioners working in more cosmopolitan environments – Online patient appointment scheduling is an effective as well as cost effective solution. Why let the siege on your staff continue?

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Lisa West October 13th, 2012

Without question, if you are a medical practitioner then patient appointment scheduling is normally an essential part of the process. Improving workflows invariably leads to better patient service, as overall medical practice management is enhanced. Streamlining the way your patient appointment scheduling is handled can help your medical practice perform more efficiently overall, which is important for any practice that would like to improve revenues.

Minimise Errors
Medical appointment scheduling software can help to minimise errors, and so the time usually wasted from dealing with appointments manually. Unquestionably, in a busy medical practice keeping up with patient appointment scheduling and reminder calls can be a challenging task; even for experienced staff – And when staff are overwhelmed mistakes will invariably happen.

Good for Staff & Patients
Automated appointment scheduling software can help to take the pressure off the front desk. This is not only an advantageous solution for staff it is also extremely beneficial for patients. When it is consistently difficult to schedule a doctor appointment a percentage of patients will decide to switch their medical practice – With an automated scheduling system in place they are never left hanging on the end of the phone: Good for patients and so good for your medical practice.

Online Medical Scheduling
One of the greatest advantages of an online medical scheduling system is that patients can schedule, reschedule or cancel a doctor appointment anytime online: Indeed, research indicates that a notable majority of adults would ‘gratefully receive’ the opportunity. Therefore this would give most medical practices the edge, in what is an increasingly competitive environment – Today, one could certainly argue that the health industry is as cut-throat as any other. Real time, online scheduling is also extremely advantageous for medical practitioners who are on the move. They can access the system from any internet connection, which means they are always informed and updated.

A Cost Effective Solution
Automating patient appointment scheduling can help your medical practice stay competitive by improving services: And it can do this remarkably cost- effectively. The features of the online medical scheduling systems available do of course vary. Free trials allow you to test run the system and the features available: Not every medical practices’ needs are the same. However, automated patient appointment scheduling and reminder calls as well as online scheduling are probably the three most fundamental of all for most. Reminder calls have proven to reduce no-shows. Automated reminder calls offer up a cost effective way to reduce no-shows and so improve your medical practices’ bottom line – All in all, the advantages of office automation are very (very) clear….

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