Physicians Practice - Tech Guide 2008 - (Page 47)

SCHEDULING NO MORE NO-SHOWS BY ROSEMARIE NELSON WITH THE RIGHT TOOLS, IT’S EASIER THAN YOU THINK You know that each no-show patient per day creates a gap in your schedule, and you may be among those physicians who breathe a sigh of relief when a few extra minutes are freed up during a busy day. After all, it gives you an unexpected break during which you can return phone calls, attack that pile of test results on your desk, or just take some time to relax. But you also know the impact that no-shows can have on your bottom line. Like some physicians, you may think that such patients are simply inconsiderate, but in today’s fastpaced world it’s easy for the most conscientious of patients to forget a trip to the doctor’s office scheduled long ago. So how can you help your patients keep their scheduled appointments and help your practice run more efficiently? TECHNOLOGY TO THE RESCUE Automated telephone reminder systems have been around for several years and are proven to be an easy-touse, effective technology with a rapid return on investment. They require no special interface, which means no tacked-on fees after they’re purchased. In general, the bigger players in this ﬁeld (MedVoice, PhoneTree, TeleVox, and JulySoft) operate by using an output ﬁle from your practice management system — your daily schedule report. If you’re still using pencils and an appointment book to schedule, you can opt to fax your handwritten schedule to a vendor, which will generate the calls. That’s right — so no more excuses! If your staff is personally making appointment reminder calls, you may ﬁnd that this task typically gets pushed back until the end of the day, and it may not always get done. WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM You can program an automated reminder system to call patients at whatever time of day you wish, giving your staff more time to attend to the daily needs of patients and providers. Such automated systems also document the results of each reminder call, giving you extra liability protection within the patient-care arena. And most systems generate a report that tags each call with a date-time stamped result, informing you if the patient was reached, if the call went unanswered, or if the message was picked up by voice mail. If you work in a culturally diverse area, do you retain bilingual staff? You can program your reminder calls in many different languages, and you’ll ﬁnd that this simple option is greatly appreciated by your patients. They will grow accustomed to receiving reminder calls and even rely on them to help them stay on schedule themselves. Many practices believe that automated reminder calls are impersonal, and that requiring staff to make such calls adds a “personal touch.” But have you ever really listened to your staff make those calls? It’s not a particularly fulfilling or challenging task, so it often falls to the least experienced or newest staff member. Without proper phone etiquette training and an understanding of the marketing impact of even their tone of voice, your staff’s “personalized” reminder calls may in fact work against you. TECHNOLOGY GUIDE | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | 47 http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Physicians Practice - Tech Guide 2008

Physicians Practice - Tech Guide 2008 TG Cover Story: Protect Your Practice and Sleep Better Operations: Paperless? Not Quite The Internet: You've Got Mail...Or Do You? Patient Relations: Attention Grabbers The Tech Doctor: All About Blogs Lessons Learned: 'My EMR Nightmare...And Why I'd Do It Again' Scheduling: No More No-Shows The Marketplace: Who's Got Your Back IT Enhancement: Time, at Last, for an Upgrade? Online: 'Yup, I'm a Junkie. And Proud of It.' In the Office: New Technologies in the Workplace: Blessing or Curse? Web Surfing: If You Build It...

Physicians Practice - Tech Guide 2008

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