Medical Practice 101

Dr. Maulik January 19th, 2010

If you think your office automation is completed without installing online appointment scheduler that takes care of arranging patients’ appointments online, probably you need to look at some of the great benefits that come with that wonderful system.

Online appointment scheduler, as the term suggests, is software system that fixes patients appointments online without any human assistance! If this is not enough, patient appointment scheduler can also perform various tasks that are quite difficult by human medical receptionists at a time. The patients do not need to go through series of questionnaires! Also, the system can be manipulated as per doctor’s expertise and can be used as automated virtual receptionist.

Easy availability is one of the best tools to take your business graph on high! By installing online appointment scheduler for patients, the health care center is accessible by patients 24/7 without any hassles. In addition, when your use a scheduler connecting virtual receptionist, there are no chances for the patients to get busy calls that otherwise frustrate them and they keep down the phone. Woven with latest technology, the virtual receptionist cum online appointment scheduler comes with multilingual option for smoother communication with foreigners. Designed in a very user friendly way, automated virtual receptionist is gaining much popularity among health care providers for medical management.

Some added features of online medical management system include its reminder service. The system can make calls to patients and remind them about their forthcoming appointments and visits to health care centers. Also, patients can be notified about their regimen, dos and don’ts as per doctor’s advice using patient reminder calls. Reminder service, according to many health care providers, proves to be very helpful in minimizing patient no-shows those are major factors contributing the revenue loss.

Online appointment scheduler also synchronizes patients’ appointments with Google Calendar and sends it to handheld devices such as Blackberry, iPhone and Smartphone. A two way communication allows health care providers to reschedule, cancel or alter appointments as per his or her convenience. This proves to be very useful tool for health care providers who travel out of their town/clinics frequently.

Tags: answering service, appointment scheduling software, medical appointment scheduling, medical office assistant, medical office front desk receptionist, patient appointment reminder, physician answering service, reminder service, telephone reminder

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Dr. Maulik December 26th, 2009

Medical answering service is usually a call center or a automated system that picks up patients’ calls automatically. The calls should be answered as per health care provider’s instructions and expertise. i.e. contact doctors for emergency, dispatch a patient message, etc…

A modern state of art patient answering systems stands out in its class with multiple modern features and benefits. For instance, a specially designed patient answering system can also be used as patient reminder call system as well as online appointment scheduler.

Automated medical answering service has been made to be much more dependable, friendly and efficient compare to live agents. Because it is equipped with automated appointment reminder function, the system will very effectively slashes the patient no-shows and reverses the revenue loss.

An automated virtual receptionist will serve your patients or customers call 24/7 – there is no weekly off and the automated virtual receptionist never gets sick! The health care center with virtual receptionist is therefore accessible after office-hours. Because a virtual receptionist is designed to handle multiple calls at the same time, your patients will not get busy tone and are never kept on hold when you have automated virtual receptionist.

A modern virtual receptionist system can auto-connect a HIPAA compliant online patient appointment. Reminder calls from the virtual receptionist can be made multilingual (with language optionis such as Chinese, French, Spanish and English), creating very favorable impression of your medical practice if you patients are non-native English speakers. 

If you are often away from your office, you should look for one of those online patient appointment schedulers that  can synchronize patient appointment information to Google Calendar automatically. This feature allows doctors to check their appointments on cell phones using single-word command SMS or text messages.

When two-ways sync with Google Calendar is provided by your modern scheduling system you can manage, reschedule your own appointments from your handhelp device such as Blackberry, iphone and smartphone. 

A state-of-art virtual receptionist and online scheduler system must be flexible to allow customization per doctors expertise and specialty. Also, doctors should be able to feed answering machine in their own way and use it as and when required. Because such system is web-based, you will not need software/hardware (or zero maintenance)  in office. Once your medical office is automated with virtual receptionist that connect online patient appointment scheduler cum automated patient telephone reminder, you can breathe easy and focus your human staff on more important tasks such as patient care and medical billing. By the end of the day, happier patients and more accurate medical billing  will improve your business bottom line.

Tags: appointment scheduling software, medical office front desk receptionist, Online Appointment Scheduler, physician answering service, reminder program, telephone reminder

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Dr. Maulik December 16th, 2009

Medical practice has witnesse advancement in medical technologies and that has brought much useful software, systems and office automation that can smoothen the medical practice routine and generate more revenues.

All-in-one online scheduler with virtual receptionist is one of the most sought-after systems that help health care providers to run their clinic or health care center with efficiency. The system makes reminder calls to the patients automatically. It informs patients about their forthcoming appointments, regimens and simple follow-ups. The system can also be used as online patient self service appointment scheduler. Top class of such systems can, in addition, function as your front-desk virtual medical receptionists.

The benefits that come from such a all-in-one system are many. This is 24/7 customer service support that helps patients to access the health care centers at any time they want. In addition,  The automated system is capable of multiple calls at the same time thus will never put your patient on-hold. The reminer system can be set into other international languages such as Spanish, Chinese and French. Which will sure please your non-English speaking patients.

If you are one of those doctors who frequently away from your office and  need to view and reschedule patients appointments, you are now find a online patient appointment scheduler that synchronizes with Google Calendar. With is feature, your appointments will be accessible on handheld devices such as iPhone, Smartphone and Blackberry.

In today’s world of cutthroat competition, every bit of advantages you gain from automation will help you get ahead of your game.  It is worth your efforts to find a great all-in-one system that is both your online scheduler and virtual receptionist, the type with a lot of nice features that help you run the most efficient, friendly medical practice.

Tags: 24/7 medical answering service, automated appointment reminder, health care receptionist, medical clinic receptionist, office automation, reminder program, remote receptionist service, telephone reminder

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Dr. Maulik November 29th, 2009

The best way to survive in any business is keep your clients satisfied by providing the services to best of your abilities. Most of the medical offices are managed by people today and when there are humans involved there is always a chance of an error. Don’t you think it will be a good idea to use some kind of software that will help you manage your medical services and improve your quality of service substantially? Everybody is becoming internet savvy these days and even your clients will want to do most of the communication with you online. If you provide them a platform and let them schedule and books their appointments online it will give you that extra edge over others as well as save you a lot of money in the long run.

Medical Practice is like any other small business in that cost of business directly affect your bottom line.  If you can do better streamlining the appointment scheduling procedure then you will be able to concentrate more on your core area of expertise. It will result in high levels patient satisfaction and ultimately increase your revenues.

Medical software for online appointment schedule has many benefits associated with it such as reducing paperwork, schedules recurring appointments, provide patient reminder services, act as a virtual receptionist 24/7 and many more.

You have to be a little careful in buying an online appointment scheduler for your automated office and make sure that you get all the necessary features that should be present in such software. Typically you should look out for the following features:

• Most importantly it should be HIPAA compliant to ensure the security of your client’s information
• It should let you customize itself as per your medical specialty
• If you are a little tech savvy then you should definitely look up for the feature of synchronizing your appointments with Google Calendar so that they can be accessible from handheld devices such as iPhone, BlackBerry or Smart-phone
• It should let you check your appointments through SMS commands or text messages
• Support for most of the important languages like English, Spanish, French and Chinese

If you get all or most of these features in your online doctor appointment scheduler software then you should conclude that you have found the right software that will cater to all your needs.

Tags: 24/7 medical answering service, appointment reminder software, Career receptionist, doctor office receptionist, medical front desk receptionist, medical practice management, office automation, reminder program, telephone reminder

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Dr. Maulik November 16th, 2009

Online appointment scheduler is basically an online patient appointment scheduling system that fixes up the appointments of the patients using software.  When the world is toward globalization and everything has gone computerized, why leave the clinic or health care center behind! The software can tackle multiple tasks at the health care center that otherwise becomes expensive recruiting more people for different works.

The system that provides online appointment schedule can be used for several reasons. For instance, the system can be fed with tailored answers by the doctor or health care provider according to the need and wish. These answers can be played as and when required. It can also be turned into answering machine if the hospital or clinic has flood of calls from patients. Also, during some campaign where more calls are expected, this answering machine can tackle all of them without any hassles. In addition, answering machine can answer all calls and no caller would be getting a ‘busy, frustrating tone’. The answers are professionally tailored and the voice they hear is soothing and satisfying.

The beauty of answering machine cum online appointment scheduler is it can be also used as a patient reminding system! The system can call the patients and ask them about the follow up and regimen. Following up the patients means that they feel being personally treated and it brings a good rapport of the health care provider and also the center.

Driven by the latest technology and advanced settings, multiple language (multilingual) option is possible in this system. This helps in tackling foreigners who come as patients. Spanish, French and English, being the major languages can be set as per the requirement. Also, online appointment scheduler can synchronize appointments with Google Calendar that can be accessed using handheld devices such as iPhone, SmartPhone and Blackberry. This way, the health care provider or doctor is never away from the center and can be aware of what all schedules are fixed for today and coming days.

Other benefits that come with automated office system include…

1. It is a 24/7 service so patients are never said to call between a few hours. Even after office hours, the health care center is accessible. This improves the availability.
2. No patients are kept on the hold! All get response and this is very useful when there’s a flood of calls.
3. Online appointment scheduler can fix up appointments anytime. It sends you data on your handheld devices and hence keeps you updated. No need for a human receptionist to inform you.
4. It is more reliable and trustworthy. No tiredness from this virtual medical front office executive!

Tags: Appointment Reminder, call answering service, medical appointment scheduling, medical office receptionist, Online Appointment Scheduler, online scheduler, reminder service, telephone reminder

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Martin Wright July 14th, 2009

When you decided to become a private practitioner you probably started out with a handful of patients. Appointments were easy to keep track of and you probably thought that your medical receptionist was the most efficient front desk receptionist available. You knew each patient down to their dog’s name and so did everyone in the practice.

Your practice has probably grown since then and keeping track of your patients and their appointments is becoming more of a challenge for both your patients and especially for your medical receptionist. You can help ease the burden on your front desk receptionist and the rest of your medical staff by investing in an email reminder or telephone reminder. A telephone or email reminder will remind patients of their appointment either online or via a telephone call according to your preference.

The success of your reminder service will directly affect the success of your practice. Deciding on which type of appointment reminder service will suit you best will be influenced by your practice and your patients. Check your patients’ personal records for their contact information. If most of them have email addresses then an email reminder would be suitable. If most of your patients do not have email addresses then a telephone reminder would be more logical.

You ought to consider the type of practice you are running and the type of people you receive as patients. If majority of your patients are elderly or from poor neighborhoods, an email reminder may not reach as many of your patients as you would like. Even if these patients had email addresses they would not spend much time surfing as they either cannot afford to or do not know how to. An email reminder would be suitable in a practice where the patients have access to the Internet and check their emails regularly.

Doctors should also consider the preference of their patients. Some patients will be irritated by receiving telephone calls reminding them of appointments at regular intervals. Such patients would much rather have an email reminder sent to their email addresses. Others would prefer to be alerted via telephone as they are probably prone to forgetting about their appointments easily. This is especially true for elderly patients.

Both a telephone and email reminder are only 90% effective. No doctor can be assured 100% of the successful delivery of all reminders on either service. A telephone reminder may not be delivered as the patient may not answer the telephone. An email reminder may not be read as the patient may fail to check his or her email in good time.

It is therefore advisable for a doctor to invest in both a telephone and email reminder. It may seem expensive in the beginning but the returns will be well worth it. Both services are inexpensive to maintain and working together will guarantee you a more successful delivery. Your patients can even choose the reminder service they prefer.

Tags: Appointment Reminder, appointment reminder service, appointment reminder software, APPOINTMENT REMINDERS, automated appointment reminder, automated reminder, automated telephone reminder, EMAIL REMINDER, EMAIL REMINDERS, medical practice management, MEDICAL REMINDER, multilingual appointment reminder, office automation, patient appointment reminder, patient reminder, phone reminder, practice management software, reminder, reminder call, reminder calls, reminder program, reminder service, REMINDER SOFTWARE, telephone reminder

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Jon May 21st, 2009

Some doctors insist on letting their own staff to make patient reminder calls instead of using reminder service! They believe such calls make the service more “personal”.

Is it really better, for patient or for medical office, if a reminder call is made by staff (or more “personal”) than automated system?

Let’s face it. We all live busy lives, and none of us have too much extra time for small talk. The last time my doctor’s office called me to remind me of an upcoming appointment the receptionist began with, “Hi, how are you feeling?” It was a very nice sentiment – but one in which my busy day, I don’t have time to be engaged in. I was very nice, but a call that should’ve taken 10 seconds, ended up taking 3 minutes. And, really- who wants to waste anytime let alone speaking to a receptionist at your doctor’s office?

Vice versa, I am pretty sure there are receptionists that get caught into an undesired long conversation by patients bring up issues that are beyond their control. “Can you tell doctor that I still have this pain over…”. “How comes the medicine I took is not working…”.

It got me to thinking – wouldn’t that a receptionist’s time be better served talking to patients in person at the office and not bantering over the phone? And, wouldn’t it make more sense for the receptionist to be doing something more productive for the practice?
And, that’s where the idea of the automated reminder service comes in.

A reminder service automatically calls patients and reminds them of their appointments. With the virtual system in place, the call is made on time and is quick and easy. Patients like it because you’re not taking up their valuable time. And, there is a hidden benefit for the medical practice as well.

The hidden benefit is by using a reminder service – you are actually cutting your cost and increasing revenue. Why? First of all, you are turning potential “no-shows” into returning patients. The more patients you can maintain in your practice, the more your revenue increases. In addition, this frees up your live receptionist to do more important business around the office. For example, because the automatic reminder service is handling reminding patients about their appointments, the receptionist can focus on attracting new patients. Attracting new patients is something an automated system may not do – but reminding current patients of their appointments is absolutely something the virtual service can and will do effectively. And, when no-shows at your medical practice go down and customer satisfaction goes up because of the automated reminders – you have struck gold!

And all of this, without perhaps alienating your patients by unnecessary small talk or – even worse – by being put on hold during the appointment reminder process. The automated reminder cuts down on many different things that could adversely affect the patient’s experience.

And, there is one more thing to keep in mind as well. An automated appointment reminder system can be programmed to do many different things. Calling and reminding patients of their appointments is just one small aspect. Imagine programming the system to speak in the language the patient speaks – automatically! Or, imagine the automated reminder system calling to remind patients about prescription refills or other necessary items that could impact their health? There are many different uses for the virtual reminder system – all of which help bring in more patients and help keep your current patients satisfied. And, when your patients are happy, the practice is happy because chances are those patients are telling their friends what a wonderful office experience they had!

Tags: Appointment Reminder, appointment reminder service, appointment reminder software, automated appointment reminder, automated reminder, automated telephone reminder, medical practice management, multilingual appointment reminder, office automation, patient appointment reminder, phone reminder, reminder program, telephone reminder

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Neil Kokemuller January 10th, 2009

The busy holiday season means more than just people rushing to complete last minute shopping and attending lots of holiday parties. It is also one of the busiest times for certain healthcare providers who deal with patients that suffer from both physical and mental stresses.

Along with cold and flu viruses that run rampant during the winter holiday season, mental and emotional stressors also fly high. Unfortunately, for many psychiatric patients, there is so much going on that it is easy to forget visits to the psychiatrist. Thus, the always important appointment reminder call is especially vital during this period of high stress and multiple distractions.

It sounds simple enough – have a receptionist make daily appointment reminder calls to let patients know of upcoming visits. The efficiency and accuracy of this process is often up for debate when reminder calls are delivered by live receptionists. Just as providers are busy during high traffic times, office staff is easily overwhelmed. Many psychiatrists rely on one receptionist, or a small staff, to manage in-clinic visits, call answering, paperwork, errands, and other office tasks. This can be stressful and challenging during heightened busy seasons. Medical office staff has a traditionally high turnover rate because of the amount of stress and exhaustion.

What is a psychiatry practice to do then? Reminder calls are necessary to ensure appointment times are filled and follow up visits are kept, but the challenges have been identified. What if there is a solution that allows the practice to efficiently and accurately deliver telephone reminder calls every day, with confirmation or cancellation options, appointment notes, and other vital details? Fortunately, there is. A best in class automated appointment reminder software solution can be programmed to efficiently make appointment reminder calls every day, and at a very moderate up front cost and with little to no ongoing maintenance requirements.

The benefits of using an automated reminder solution are more than just delivery of the reminder calls. Sure, improving rates of customers showing up for scheduled appointments is important. But, office morale is also given a boost when the automated reminder call solution kicks in. The receptionist is able to focus on giving personal attention to sometimes fragile customers and their needs. He or she can also accurately and effectively complete important insurance claims paperwork. The psychiatrist benefits as well. Psychiatry professionals already operate in a high stress environment. Removing some of the stressors of managing tough office situations makes things even more difficult.

Reminder calls are not just an effective tool for reminding patients of upcoming visits. The automated reminder includes a confirmation or cancellation option that lets the provider know the patient’s intention. The solution can also be used, though, to follow up with patients to remind them to schedule their next visit. With distractions abound, patients can easily lose track of the need to schedule their next visits which can cause bigger issues down the road. The multiple capabilities of a top automated reminder solution, combined with its moderate cost and office benefits, makes it a great investment before, during, or after the stressful holiday season.

Tags: Appointment Reminder, automated appointment reminder, call reminder, reminder call, telephone reminder

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