9 scheduling tips to improve patient access and satisfaction in multi-location practices
As your medical practice expands to include multiple locations, patient volume grows as well. That’s a good thing; however, without a strategic approach to scheduling those patients, staff may become overwhelmed. It’s important to focus on an efficient patient scheduling process, especially as business starts booming with mergers, acquisitions, and expansions. Without an effective patient scheduling process, you could lose patients to competitors that provide faster, more streamlined access.
Patient scheduling for medical offices
Here are nine medical office patient scheduling best practices that can help increase patient retention, access, and satisfaction:
1. Use cloud-based technology. A cloud-based patient scheduling system allows schedulers to access medical practice calendars from any laptop, tablet, or computer. This type of technology is a timesaving ‘no brainer’ as medical practices increase the number of locations in which physicians provide care. Any time saved—even minutes here or there—add up quickly, and you can reinvest them elsewhere. In addition, cloud-based technology promotes remote work options where schedules can work from home. These arrangements may even help you recruit and retain top talent during times of healthcare staffing shortages.
2. Permit access to a master schedule. Being able to easily view calendars across all medical office locations empowers schedulers to quickly find available appointments. This, in turn, helps increase patient access and satisfaction. Rather than referring patients to another phone number to schedule an appointment in a different location, schedulers have all of the information they need right at their fingertips. Centralized schedules also make it easier to run reports and quickly identify gaps, so you know exactly where to focus outreach efforts. With that said, certain users (i.e., physicians or medical assistants) may only want to view their own personal schedules, and the right technology can provide user-specific views.
3. Send automated patient appointment reminders. For multi-location practices, appointment reminders can be challenging to manage. That’s where automation can help. Some patient scheduling systems enable medical practices to send these reminders via text, email, or pre-recorded phone call. Regardless of the method you choose, sending appointment reminders—especially ones that you automate—helps reduce no shows that can cause unanticipated gaps in your schedule. Automated appointment reminders are a ‘must’ when thinking about how to improve patient scheduling for medical offices.
4. Permit patient self-scheduling. Permitting patients to schedule and reschedule their own appointments online can significantly increase patient access and satisfaction. Online self-scheduling also frees up schedulers to focus on face-to-face communication with patients physically present in your office. They spend less time answering the phones and more time providing a meaningful patient experience. They may also be able to focus more diligently on point-of-service collections and data integrity, both of which can improve your cashflow.
5. Leverage other time-saving features of your patient scheduling system. For example, your system may offer the ability to specify color-coded appointment types with specific durations, transfer appointments from one provider to another with a simple click, provide automated eligibility, and more. The more of these features you turn on and leverage, the more efficient your overall scheduling process. And the more efficient your process, the happier your patients.
6. Maintain a patient waiting list. Even despite your best efforts to increase patient access, there may be times when the schedule across all office locations simply cannot accommodate an appointment. That’s when a waiting list can be helpful. As soon as an opening becomes available, schedulers can check this list and contact patients immediately to minimize scheduling gaps. A patient waiting list is an oftentimes overlooked patient scheduling strategy that can help improve access.
7. Create clear patient policies. For example, your medical practice may choose to charge patients a fee for last-minute cancellations or require them to reschedule a late arrival. These policies are important because they put the onus on patients to do their part and take responsibility for the role they play in creating an effective patient scheduling process. Ensure policies are consistent across all medical practice locations.
8. Schedule follow-up visits while the patient is still there. This helps ensure patients don’t slip through the cracks, and it prevents them from having to call back to schedule the additional appointment. One patient scheduling strategy is for the physician or medical assistant to schedule these appointments because it allows front-desk staff to focus on patients who are checking in.
9. Be mindful of when you schedule telehealth appointments. Does it make more sense to intersperse telemedicine visits with in-person visits on the same day or schedule them all into dedicated blocks of time on a specific day of the week? The answer may vary between practices and locations, and it’s important to gain input from clinical and administrative staff who may be impacted by the decision.
Conclusion
Creating an effective patient scheduling process can help your medical practice avoid downtime, increase revenue, and provide a streamlined and positive patient experience. Learn how edgeMED can help and be sure to check the Healthy Snacks blog for more expert insights, best practices and industry trends.
