How Can Your Practice Modernize the Patient Experience?

40% of Online Appointment Scheduling Happening After-Hours

When you are booking a flight, do you call the airport? If you need to book a hotel room, do you call the hotel directly? Chances are, you are shaking your head no to both of those questions. Most people do not enjoy calling establishments anymore, and they would rather book their flight, room, or appointment online. This is no different in healthcare.

According to PatientPop, 42% of patients would like to be able to schedule their appointment online through a provider’s website or mobile app. With that being said, only 17% have the ability to do so. This could mean you’re missing out on patients coming into your office, which inevitably is going to hurt your bottom line. What can you do to modernize the patient experience, drive more foot traffic, and heal more patients? Let’s find out.

Enable Online Scheduling

Did you know that 34.3% (PatientPop) of patients are scheduling their appointments online AFTER a practice has closed? If you are not currently allowing patients to schedule online, you may be missing out on a large percentage of scheduled appointments. Within the same vein, your front office may feel the burden of having dozens of follow up calls with patients who left voicemails after hours. This takes time away from other duties your front office staff could be completing.

Enabling online scheduling is as easy as utilizing a patient portal. Patient portals fulfill regulatory mandates, create a platform for patients to ask questions or request documentation, and more. Furthermore, products like Secure Chart Patient Portal, take manual work away from your front office staff and allows them to focus on more pressing matters at your office.

Accept Online Payments and Credit Cards

More than half of Americans pay their bills online, according to ACI Universal Payments. 56% of all bills in 2016 were paid online through a biller, bank, or a third-party website. These numbers alone speak to why your practice should consider implementing an online program to accept payments. Many patient portals allow practices to set up this feature – if you are looking into a patient portal solution, be sure to look into payment capabilities.

If you are leery of implementing online payments, take the step towards allowing your patients to use their credit and debit cards at your office. Many individuals no longer use or carry cash to pay for items and services. If you are looking for another way to help your practice get paid, this should be an option you consider. Worldpay and MicroMD eStatements can help your practice collect at time of appointment.

Automate Patient Appointment Reminders

Automating patient appointment reminders is another great way to bring your practice back to the 21^st century and eliminate manual work typically completed by your front office staff. Automation systems typically allow your patients to reschedule or cancel an appointment, if necessary. These systems also let your patients be contacted how they wish to be contacted. This can be through text, call, or email. This significantly increases the probability that you will receive a confirmation of appointment. AutoRemind is an appointment automation system that does all of these aforementioned tasks and more.

There are many other ways to modernize your practice and many of those link back to technology. What are you implementing in your practice to streamline tasks, boost patient engagement, and collect the money that is due?

If you are looking to modernize your practice, MicroMD can help. Visit micromd.com or call 1-800-624-8832 for more information.